Suchergebnisse

Tradizionalmente, l'epidemiologia descrittiva viene considerata come un semplice strumento esplorativo. Tuttavia, nel corso degli anni, la maggiore disponibilità e il miglioramento della qualità dei dati epidemiologici hanno portato allo sviluppo di nuove tecniche statistiche che caratterizzano l'epidemiologia moderna. Questi metodi non sono solo esplicativi, ma anche predittivi. In ambito di sanità pubblica, le previsioni degli andamenti futuri di morbilità e mortalità sono essenziali per valutare le strategie di prevenzione, la gestione delle malattie e per pianificare l'allocazione delle risorse. Durante il mio dottorato di ricerca in "Epidemiologia, Ambiente e Sanità Pubblica" ho lavorato all'analisi degli andamenti di mortalità per tumore, utilizzando principalmente la banca dati della World Health Organization (WHO), ma anche quella della Pan American Health Organization, dell'Eurostat, della United Nation Population Division, dello United States Census Bureau e la banca dati del Japanese National Institute of Population. Considerando diversi siti neoplastici e diversi paesi nel mondo, ho calcolato i tassi specifici per ogni classe di età quinquennale (da 0-4 a 80+ o 85+ anni), e singolo anno di calendario o quinquennio. Per poter confrontare i tassi fra diversi paesi, ho calcolato, utilizzando il metodo diretto sulla base della popolazione mondiale standard, i tassi di mortalità standardizzati per età per 100.000 anni-persona. Nella maggior parte delle analisi, ho poi applicato il modello di regressione joinpoint ai tassi standardizzati con lo scopo di individuare gli anni in cui erano avvenuti cambiamenti significativi nell'andamento dei tassi; per ogni segmento individuato dalla regressione joinpoint, ho calcolato le variazioni percentuali annue. Inoltre, mi sono concentrata sulle proiezioni degli andamenti futuri. Con l'obiettivo di individuare il segmento più recente dell'andamento di mortalità, ho applicato il modello di regressione joinpoint al numero di morti in ogni gruppo di età quinquennale. Quindi, ho utilizzato i Modelli Lineari Generalizzati (GLM), scegliendo la distribuzione di Poisson e diverse funzioni link, sui dati dell'ultimo segmento individuato dal modello joinpoint. In particolare, ho considerato le funzioni link identità, logaritmica, quinta potenza e radice quadrata. Ho anche implementato un algoritmo che genera una regressione "ibrida"; questo algoritmo seleziona automaticamente, in base al valore della statistica Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), il modello GLM Poisson più performante, tra quelli generati dalle funzioni link di identità, logaritmica, quinta potenza e radice quadrata, da applicare a ciascuna classe di età quinquennale. La regressione risultante, sull'insieme dei singoli gruppi di età, è quindi una combinazione dei modelli considerati. Quindi, applicando i coefficienti ottenuti dalle quattro regressioni GLM Poisson e dalla regressione ibrida sugli anni di previsione, ho ottenuto le stime predette del numero di morti. A seguire, utilizzando il numero di morti predetto e le popolazioni predette, ho stimato i tassi previsti specifici per età e i corrispondenti intervalli di previsione al 95% (PI). Infine, come ulteriore modello di confronto, ho costruito un modello medio, che semplicemente calcola una media delle stime prodotte dai diversi modelli GLM Poisson. Al fine di confrontare fra loro i sei diversi metodi di previsione, ho utilizzato i dati relativi a 21 paesi in tutto il mondo e all'Unione Europea nel suo complesso, e ho considerato 25 maggiori cause di morte. Ho selezionato solo i paesi con oltre 5 milioni di abitanti e solo i paesi per i quali erano disponibili dati di buona qualità (ovvero con almeno il 90% di coverage). Ho analizzato i dati del periodo temporale compreso tra il 1980 e il 2011 e, in particolare, ho applicato i vari modelli sui dati dal 1980 al 2001 con l'idea di prevedere i tassi sul periodo 2002-2011, e ho poi utilizzato i dati effettivamente disponibili dal 2002 al 2011 per valutare le stime predette. Quindi, per misurare l'accuratezza predittiva dei diversi metodi, ho calcolato la deviazione relativa assoluta media (AARD). Questa quantità indica la deviazione media percentuale del valore stimato dal valore vero. Ho calcolato gli AARD su un periodo di previsione di 5 anni (i.e. 2002-2006), e anche su un periodo di 10 anni (i.e. 2002-2011). Dalle analisi è emerso che il modello ibrido non sempre forniva le migliori stime di previsione e, anche quando risultava il migliore, i corrispondenti valori di AARD non erano poi molto lontani da quelli degli altri metodi. Tuttavia, le proiezioni ottenute utilizzando il modello ibrido, per qualsiasi combinazione di sito di tumore e sesso, non sono mai risultate le peggiori. Questo modello è una sorta di compromesso tra le quattro funzioni link considerate. Anche il modello medio fornisce stime intermedie rispetto alle altre regressioni: non è mai risultato il miglior metodo di previsione, ma i suoi AARD erano competitivi rispetto agli altri metodi considerati. Complessivamente, il modello che mostra le migliori prestazioni predittive è il GLM Poisson con funzione link identità. Inoltre, questo metodo ha mostrato AARD estremamente bassi rispetto agli altri metodi, in particolare considerando un periodo di proiezione di 10 anni. Infine, bisogna tenere in considerazione che gli andamenti previsti, e i corrispondenti AARD, ottenuti da proiezioni su periodi di 5 anni sono molto più accurati rispetto a quelli su periodi di 10 anni. Le proiezioni ottenute con questi metodi per periodi superiori a 5 anni perdono in affidabilità e la loro utilità in sanità pubblica risulta quindi limitata. Durante l'implementazione della regressione ibrida e durante le analisi sono rimaste aperte alcune questioni: ci sono altri modelli rilevanti che possono essere aggiunti all'algoritmo? In che misura la regressione joinpoint influenza le proiezioni? Come trovare una regola "a priori" che aiuti a scegliere quale metodo predittivo applicare in base alle varie covariate disponibili? Tutte queste domande saranno tenute in considerazione per gli sviluppi futuri del progetto. Prevedere gli andamenti futuri è un processo complesso, le stime risultanti dovrebbero quindi essere considerate con cautela e solo come indicazioni generali in ambito epidemiologico e di pianificazione sanitaria. ; Descriptive epidemiology has traditionally only been concerned with the definition of a research problem's scope. However, the greater availability and improvement of epidemiological data over the years has led to the development of new statistical techniques that have characterized modern epidemiology. These methods are not only explanatory, but also predictive. In public health, predictions of future morbidity and mortality trends are essential to evaluate strategies for disease prevention and management, and to plan the allocation of resources. During my PhD at the school of "Epidemiology, Environment and Public Health" I worked on the analysis of cancer mortality trends, using data from the World Health Organization (WHO) database, available on electronic support (WHOSIS), and from other databases, including the Pan American Health Organization database, the Eurostat database, the United Nation Population Division database, the United States Census Bureau and the Japanese National Institute of Population database. Considering several cancer sites and several countries worldwide, I computed age-specific rates for each 5-year age-group (from 0–4 to 80+ or 85+ years) and calendar year or quinquennium. I then computed age-standardized mortality rates per 100,000 person-years using the direct method on the basis of the world standard population. I performed joinpoint models in order to identify the years when significant changes in trends occurred and I calculated the corresponding annual percent changes. Moreover, I focused on projections. I fitted joinpoint models to the numbers of certified deaths in each 5-year age-group in order to identify the most recent trend slope. Then, I applied Generalized Liner Model (GLM) Poisson regressions, considering different link functions, to the data over the time period identified by the joinpoint model. In particular, I considered the identity link, the logarithmic link, the power five link and the square root link. I also implemented an algorithm that generated a "hybrid" regression; this algorithm automatically selects the best fitting GLM Poisson model, among the identity, logarithmic, power five, and square root link functions, to apply for each age-group according to Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) values. The resulting regression is a combination of the considered models. Thus, I computed the predicted age-specific numbers of deaths and rates, and the corresponding 95% prediction intervals (PIs) using the regression coefficients obtained previously from the four GLM Poisson regressions and from the hybrid GLM Poisson regression. Lastly, as a further comparison model, I implemented an average model, which just computes a mean of the estimates produced by the different considered GLM Poisson models. In order to compare the six different prediction methods, I used data from 21 countries worldwide and for the European Union as a whole, I considered 25 major causes of death. I selected countries with over 5 million inhabitants and with good quality data (i.e. with at least 90% of coverage). I analysed data for the period between 1980 and 2011 and, in particular, I considered data from 1980 to 2001 as a training dataset, and from 2002 to 2011 as a validation set. To measure the predictive accuracy of the different models, I computed the average absolute relative deviations (AARDs). These indicate the average percent deviation from the true value. I calculated AARDs on 5-year prediction period (i.e. 2002-2006), as well as for 10-year period (i.e. 2002-2011). The results showed that the hybrid model did not give always the best predictions, and when it was the best, the corresponding AARD estimates were not very far from the other methods. However, the hybrid model projections, for any combination of cancer site and sex, were never the worst. It acted as a compromise between the four considered models. The average model is also ranked in an intermediate position: it never was the best predictive method, but its AARDs were competitive compared to the other methods considered. Overall, the method that shows the best predictive performance is the Poisson GLM with an identity link function. Furthermore, this method, showed extremely low AARDs compared to other methods, particularly when I considered a 10-year projection period. Finally, we must take into account that predicted trends and corresponding AARDs derived from 5-year projections are much more accurate than those done over a 10-year period. Projections beyond five years with these methods lack reliability and become of limited use in public health. During the implementation of the algorithm and the analyses, several questions emerged: Are there other relevant models that can be added to the algorithm? How much does the Joinpoint regression influence projections? How to find an "a priori" rule that helps in choosing which predictive method apply according to various available covariates? All these questions are set aside for the future developments of the project. Prediction of future trends is a complex procedure, the resulting estimates should be taken with caution and considered only as general indications for epidemiology and health planning.

Background and aims of the research The research for this report was commissioned by the Historical Child Abuse Team of HM Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS), to inform its response to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA). Their aim was to enhance HMPPS's institutional memory, and to suggest avenues for improved practice in safeguarding children in custody. The research set out to review the operation of past safeguarding frameworks within what is now known as 'the secure estate for young people'. Research methods The initial research strategy was twofold: to conduct an orienting review of risk factors for institutional abuse using existing research and the reports of child abuse inquiries; and to review which kinds of establishment held children sentenced to custody for criminal offences by the courts, and under what policy and legal frameworks they did so. These reviews framed our consideration of inspection reports, archival records, and other primary records concerning institutions of interest. The latter were selected according to where known allegations of sexual abuse have been made. All were male-only; to ensure that female custody was included in our analysis, we added the small number known to have held girls to the list. Systematic catalogue searches were then carried out to identify relevant records in the two principal repositories used for the study (the Radzinowicz Library in Cambridge and The National Archives). The results of these searches were uneven. Archival records for the earlier period (1960 to the 1990s) were sparse, and some issues and institutions of interest were not well-covered. We therefore adopted a more pragmatic strategy, pursuing 'leads' by browsing the archive catalogues, following cross-references in archival records, drawing inferences about institutions for children using available information (for example, by reviewing how complaints were handled in adult prisons where information was lacking for complaints by children) and turning to academic literature where archival sources lacked information relevant to certain issues. Freedom of Information (FOI) requests were also made to access relevant closed archival records but no files of interest were opened in time for inclusion in the report. The review of records covering the later period (1990s onwards) faced a contrasting challenge: the volume of documents published on secure institutions for children is enormous. Due to the three-month time limit for the whole project, it was not possible to comprehensively review the available material on specific institutions, and we therefore focused on published reviews of the children's secure estate overall, and on overviews of the running of all establishments (such as annual reports and thematic inspection reports). References to specific institutions were then chased up in inspection reports. Summary of key developments in safeguarding in the secure estate Safeguards against abuse from 1960 to the 1990s Changes in the nature and scope of the secure estate (and the youth justice system more generally) during this period were highly complex. Between 1960 and 1998, there was particular turbulence; since 1998 things have stabilised somewhat. The period as a whole, however, remains one in which there have been frequent revisions of institutional aims, management problems, resourcing pressures and cycles of expansion, reorganisation and decline. This turbulence is part of the context for historical abuse; it has not been uncommon, at different times, for institutions to become detached from their original aims, and instead to 'drift', sometimes with the result that the duty of care was diluted or suspended. In general, from 1960 until at least the 1980s, policies of all kinds were ill-developed, and often poorly implemented. Responses to abuse were reactive and often failed to recognise or counteract the potential harms which custody might inflict on children. It was common for staff to use their power in irregular ways, and penal institutions often featured violent cultures, in which victimisation of some inmates by others was routine, and sometimes carried out with the tacit consent of staff. Systems aiming to balance children's interests against those of staff (for example, by enabling them to complain) were often ineffective because they failed to correct the disparities in power that were inherent to institutional life. In penal institutions, complaints could be dangerous to raise: there were significant formal and informal barriers to raising a complaint, and significant risks of formal or informal reprisal from staff members. Investigative procedures were also weak, usually relying on investigation within the institution, or (rarely) external investigation by Boards of Visitors. The independence of Boards from prison authorities was not guaranteed. Arrangements to protect the 'welfare' of children were also hampered by resourcing, and by the narrow definition of the issue: Welfare Officers were, for the majority of this period, probation officers mostly responsible for heavy resettlement caseloads, and with limited time for other tasks. In the care system, checks and balances against abuse were often weak, left the same people and organisations responsible for the administration and oversight of institutions, and led to serious conflicts of interest. By the 1970s and 1980s, secure custody within the care system was developing along different lines to that in penal institutions. New justifications for custody were being advanced: that it was not a deterrent, or a training opportunity, but a form of treatment. These ideals were not always achieved in practice, but they led to a shift in official thinking whereby secure conditions were reframed as a way of meeting children's needs, rather than compelling their compliance. One result was to increase awareness of the risks that could be posed by inadequate safeguards. Catalysts for change, 1990-2000 New discourses and practices regarding child protection emerged in the care system during the 1980s and 90s, most particularly as the result of a series of public inquiries which exposed abuses in residential homes. Increasingly, it was recognised that residential institutions possessed their own risks and were particularly vulnerable to certain characteristic risks of abuse. The new practices were formalised into a single legislative framework by the Children Act 1989, which transformed the regulation of the care system. However, its applicability to children in YOIs was legally uncertain until a High Court ruling in 2002. Legal ambiguity did not prevent observers of the prison system making strong criticisms of YOIs (and later, STCs) a major plank in their prison reform agenda. These criticisms were powerful because they drew on the general rights and protections which the 1989 Act had created for children and which, it could be argued, they were denied in custody. These calls for reform applied the 1989 Act to child imprisonment in novel ways, leading to a 'new orthodoxy' in safeguarding. The implementation of a 'new orthodoxy', 2000-2016 Since 2000, there have been further developments in the policy framework for the secure estate, but also new indications that policies have not been perfectly implemented. Imbalances of supply and demand for places in the secure estate, and a gradual shift towards a more vulnerable and damaged population, have been among the factors making implementation challenging. Even so, some safeguards are undoubtedly more effective than previously. For example, greater controls are applied through staff vetting, and several custodial practices such as restraint and strip-searching have been reassessed in light of children's lived experience of these forms of power. Yet these new policies have also been circumvented in new ways. Abuses have come to light which possess both new features and others familiar from past inquiries. Most fundamentally, the arrival of new safeguarding policies has led to the recognition of forms of abuse which went unrecognised before. This has had an unforeseen effect: it has expanded the boundaries of what can potentially be considered abusive. The outcome of this shift remains unclear. Conclusions The safeguarding of children in secure institutions can only be evaluated fully through close attention to organisational culture, as well as the actions and motivations of 'bad' individuals. Cultural beliefs affect day-to-day decision-making and are not always congruent with what is laid down formally in policy; indeed, in some circumstances culture is used to justify the circumvention or relaxation of standards which are officially sanctioned. This is particularly likely in residential institutions for children, which feature inherent disparities of power. Race and learning difficulties added to vulnerability, though it is unclear whether this resulted in an increased likelihood of sexual abuse. The apparent absence of allegations of sexual abuse in establishments for girls is difficult to explain using the evidence we have reviewed, but does not appear to be because girls in custody were less vulnerable. New safeguarding policies implemented since the 1990s contain their own vulnerabilities and have generated their own forms of illegitimacy. It is difficult for institutions to recognise these. It is a consistent pattern, throughout the history we have reviewed, that abusive practices had often seemed unlikely or unthinkable, but later became visible. Thus while preventive safeguards are, in themselves, important, it is also important that institutions do everything possible to promote trusting, positive relationships between staff members and the children in their care, and to ensure that both staff and children are able to make meaningful challenges to aspects of custodial practice. The size of institutions appears relevant here, as do structures of accountability which avoid excessive formality. It is also important that institutions are open to outside scrutiny. This is not merely a question of regular inspection: it is clear from the historical record that those responsible for scrutinising the secure estate could become acculturated, so that their ideas about what is 'normal' and acceptable began to reflect those of the culture around them. Contemporary arrangements for inspection and oversight need to retain awareness of this risk. Abusive cultures develop largely because it is relatively easy for staff, in the context of organisations with steep power differentials, to present certain practices as justifiable means to legitimate ends. Over the long term, the operational context for the secure estate is always likely to be characterised by fluctuations in resourcing, and imbalances between supply and demand. Shifting priorities (of the sort which have been associated with the development of abusive cultures) are likely always to affect provision. In consequence, cultural blind spots will always be possible, and identifying them will always impinge on the interests of those who hold power. This makes protections for whistleblowers a key measure to protect children against abuse. In short, despite safeguarding policies and frameworks and inspection regimes, the potential for abusive practices to develop must be viewed as evolving, and thus always possible. This points to three final reflections: • the use of custody for children should be limited as far as possible, because of the inherent tensions in residential institutions where there is a marked disparity of power and an element of coercion in the allocation of residents; • there are distinct benefits to historical research in this area, because it enables a long view to be taken on present-day safeguards and abuses, and reveals continuities in the kinds of risks affecting the implementation of safeguards; • child safeguarding must be understood as an ongoing, iterative process, rather than as the attainment of a defined standard of practice. ; The report was commissioned by HM Prison & Probation Service and funding for the project came from them. Their aim was to improve their institutional memory and prepare their evidence to the Independent Inquiry on Child Sexual Abuse. Further details of the research questions agreed with them can be found in the appendices of the report at page 69.

Regulatory legislations on chemicals have in recent years become more stringent, requiring more toxicological evaluation. The increased toxicological testing have resulted in a stronger effort to implement the 3Rs (Refinement, Reduction and Replacement) through identifying suitable alternatives (non-animal) to animal testing. Evaluation of alternative methods such as cell-based in vitro methods (e.g. continuous cell lines, tissues slices and primary cultures) have shown to be promising, but there are currently few validated alternative bioassays for fish. The present work aimed to evaluate the primary rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) hepatocyte model's suitability as an ecotoxicological tool in screening of single and mixtures of chemicals with modulatory properties on the estrogen receptor (ER)-activity and auxiliary endpoints such as cytotoxicity and biotransformation (e.g. aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR)-activity). The primary hepatocytes sensitivity, reproducibility and responsiveness were assessed for seasonal, donor and assay-related variability to address potential factors affecting the bioassay reproducibility. The hepatocyte model's suitability to characterise environmentally relevant concentrations of estrogens, anti-estrogens and organic compounds was assessed using both single endpoint and broad content approaches (global transcriptomics) after exposure to single compounds and mixtures of these with similar or dissimilar mode of action (MoA). Compounds estrogenicity and anti-estrogenicity were assessed in the fish hepatocytes using classical estrogen sensitive biomarkers (e.g. ERα and ER-mediated egg-yolk precursor vitellogenin (Vtg) and egg shell zona radiata (zrp)) complemented by determination of cytotoxicity (cell membrane stability and metabolic activity), AhR-mediated responses (ahr, cytochrome P450 1a (cyp1a), enzymatic activity of ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD)). Characterisation of chemicals additional MoA in the cells were performed using novel analytical tools such as high-density oligonucleotide salmonid microarray in combination with quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Results from the studies demonstrated primary hepatocytes ability to facilitate detection of ER-mediated responses, biotransformation and cell growth-related gene expression by ER-agonists and acute toxic chemicals during short-term exposures (<96h). The bioassays ability to remain unaffected by variable parameters (robustness) and sensitivity was not affected by seasonal variations in ER sensitivity (Vtg gene and protein expression), but was dependent on individual donor-physiology variability in exposure studies with the model ER-agonist 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2). The cell-batch variability was however reduced when optimal exposure time and data normalization was applied, yielding a concentration-dependent Vtg gene and protein expression. In addition to individual donor-physiology, bioassay related factors such as hepatocyte culturing conditions and normalization procedures were identified as possible cause to the observed variability. The variability within the bioassay may be reduced through protocol harmonization (e.g. same-species culturing conditions, cell density, media supplements), resulting in a more robust and reproducible assay for assessing ER active compounds. The primary hepatocytes suitability as a screening tool for ER-agonists were further displayed in measured classical biomarker genes, identifying ER signalling and its associated pathways as the main target of the ER-agonist in the cells. Exposure to the ER-agonist caused similar transcriptional responses in vitro as previously reported in vivo, suggesting the hepatocytes to facilitate relevant biomarker responses in screening of ER-active compounds. The suitability of the in vitro model in transcriptional and sub-cellular characterization of anti-estrogenic binary and ternary mixtures (AhR-agonist (β-naphtoflavone (BNF), ER-agonist (17 β-estradiol (E2)), partial ER-antagonist (hydroxytamoxifen (OHT))) were performed to better understand how compounds with dissimilar mode of action (MoA) contributed to combined anti-estrogenic effects. The findings displayed significantly increased anti-estrogenic effect in the combined mixture of BNF, OHT and E2, indicative of the individual compounds MoA to contribute to the total anti-estrogenic effect in the primary hepatocytes. The results suggested that the compounds in the mixture induce nuclear receptor-mediated cross-talk involving AhR-mediated transcription of increased cyp1a metabolism of the ER-agonist and binding and inhibition of further ER activity by the ER-antagonist. The combined mixture's anti-estrogenic effect is therefore suggested due to the compounds differently acting MoA as they have the same effect (e.g. reduction of Vtg protein) but through differently acting pathways. To further assess the primary hepatocyte bioassay ability to identify complex and previous un-described ER-agonists, a broad range of uncharacterised mixtures (UCM)-related compounds of naphthenic acids and hydrocarbons were screened for potential estrogenicity. Few compounds induced weak estrogenic activity in the primary hepatocytes as the majority of the tested compounds had a narcotic MoA and reached their water solubility before eliciting any ER-activity. Auxiliary endpoints such as EROD activity could not explain the compounds weak estrogenicity and further supported their narcotic MoA. The potential estrogenicity might however be masked by the compounds highly variable physico-chemical properties that may have affected their bioavailability in the in vitro system. The present work has demonstrated that the primary rainbow trout hepatocyte model is a versatile, multi-endpoint tool for screening ER-agonists using both single biomarker and global gene expression approach. The bioassay provided reproducible results that demonstrate its sensitivity, robustness and responsiveness in ecotoxicological screening of chemicals that modulate the activity of the ER and downstream cellular events. These findings may contribute to a better mechanistic understanding of well-characterised and novel MOA related to single and combined chemical exposures in the in vitro fish model. The global gene expression was a good unbiased tool when characterizing the MoA of ER-active chemicals in the primary hepatocytes as it unravelled relevant in vivo ER-mediated responses, hence displaying the model's potential to become a (eco)toxicological tool in ER-agonist screening. ; Regulatorisk kjemikalielovgivning har i de senere årene blitt strengere, noe som krever mer toksikologisk vurdering. Den økte toksikologisk testingen har ført til en sterkere innsats for å implementere de 3Rer (forbedring, reduksjon og erstatning) gjennom å identifisere egnede alternativer til dyreforsøk. Vurdering av alternative metoder som cellebaserte in vitro metoder (f.eks kontinuerlige cellelinjer, vev-skiver og primære kulturer) har vist seg å være lovende, men for tiden er det få validerte alternative metoder for fisk. Dette arbeidet evaluerer primære regnbueørret (Oncorhynchus mykiss) hepatocytters egnethet som et økotoksikologisk verktøy i screening av enkeltstoffer og blandinger av kjemikalier med modulerende egenskaper på østrogenreseptor (ER)-aktivitet med hjelp av endepunkter som cytotoksisitet, østrogenrespons og biotransformasjon (f.eks aryl hydrokarbon reseptor (AhR)-aktivitet). Sensitivitet, reproduserbarhet og reaksjonsevne for metoden ble vurdert ved å se på responsvariasjon knyttet til sesong, donorfisk og analysemessige variasjoner, og potensielle faktorer som påvirker bioassayets reproduserbarhet ble identifisert. Hepatocytt-modellens egnethet for å karakterisere miljørelevante konsentrasjoner av østrogener, anti-østrogener og organiske forbindelser ble vurdert ved bruk av både enkelt endepunkter og analyse genuttrykk etter eksponering for enkeltstoffer og blandinger av disse med tilsvarende eller ulik virkningsmekanisme (MoA). Østrogenisitet og anti-østrogenisitet av kjemikalieblandinger ble vurdert i fiskehepatocytter ved hjelp av klassiske østrogensensitive biomarkører (f.eks ERα og ER-mediert eggeplomme forløper vitellogenin (Vtg) og eggeskallkomponenten zona radiata (ZRP)) supplert med bestemmelse av cytotoksisitet (cellemembranstabilitet og metabolsk aktivitet), arylhydrocarbon reseptor (AhR)-medierte responser (Ahr, cytokrom P450 1a (CYP1A), og enzymatiske aktivitet til etoksyresorufin-O-deetylase (EROD)). Karakterisering av kjemikalier for ytterligere MoA i cellene ble utført ved bruk av nye analyseverktøy som oligonukleotid mikromatrise for laksefisk i kombinasjon med kvantitativ real-tid polymerase kjedereaksjon (qPCR). Resultater fra studien viste primære hepatocytters evne til å å påvise ER-medierte reaksjoner, biotransformasjon og cellevekst knyttet til genekspresjon etter korttidseksponering (<96h) for ER-agonister og akutt giftige kjemikalier. Bioassayets evne til å forbli upåvirket av variable parametere (robusthet) samt assayets sensitivitet for å detektere østrogene stoffer ble ikke påvirket av sesongvariasjoner i ER respons (Vtg gen og protein ekspression), men var avhengig av variasjoner i individuell donor-fysiologi i eksponeringsstudier med ER-agonist 17α etinyløstradiol (EE2). Celle-batch variabilitet ble imidlertid redusert når optimal eksponeringstid og data-normalisering ble anvendt, hvilket ga en konsentrasjonsavhengig ekspresjon av Vtg gen og protein. I tillegg til individuell donor-fysiologi, ble bioassayrelaterte faktorer som hepatocytters dyrkingsforhold og normaliserings-prosedyrer identifisert som mulig årsak til den observerte variasjonen. Variabiliteten i den biologiske metoden kan reduseres ved protokoll-harmonisering (for eksempel av samme arts dyrkningsbetingelser, celletetthet, mediets kosttilskudd), som resulterer i et mer robust og reproduserbart assay for vurdering av ER-aktive forbindelser. Primære hepatocytters egnethet som et screeningverktøy for ER-agonister ble videre vist i målte klassiske biomarkør-gener, som identifiserer ER signalisering og tilhørende signalveier som det viktigste målet for ER-agonist i cellene. Eksponering for ER-agonister forårsaket lignende transkripsjons-responser in vitro som tidligere rapportert in vivo, noe som bekrefter metodens og biomarkørresponsenes egnethet i screening av ER-aktive forbindelser. In vitro-modellen ble videre brukt i transkripsjon og sub-cellulær karakterisering av antiøstrogeners responser. Både enkeltstoffer og binære blandinger (AhR-agonist (β-naphtoflavone (BNF), ER-agonist (17 β-østradiol (E2)), og delvis ER-antagonist (hydroxytamoxifen (OHT))) ble testet for å bedre forstå hvordan forbindelser med ulik virkning (MoA) bidro til kombinert anti-østrogen effekt. Resultatene viser betydelig økt antiøstrogen effekt i den kombinerte blandingen av BNF, OHT og E2, en indikasjon at de enkelte forbindelsers MoA bidrar til den anti-østrogene effekten av blandingen i de primære hepatocyttene. Videre antydet resultatene at forbindelsene i blandingen induserte nukleær reseptor-formidlet krysstale (cross-talk) mellom AhR og ER, som for eksempel AhR-mediert transkripsjon av økt CYP1A og videre metabolisme av ER-agonist og inhibering av ytterligere ER aktivitet av ER-antagonist. Den anti-østrogene effekten av kjemikalieblandingen er derfor foreslått å komme av at forbindelsene som har ulike MoA påvirker samme endepunkt (f.eks reduksjon av Vtg protein), men gjennom forskjellige signalveier. For å vurdere primære hepatocytter bioassays evne til å identifisere kompliserte og tidligere ikke beskrevne ER-agonister, ble et bredt spekter av stoffer relatert til ukarakteriserte blandinger (UCM) av naftensyrer og hydrokarboner screenet for potensiell østrogenitet. Få forbindelser viste svak østrogenaktivitet i de primære hepatocytter da de fleste av disse hadde en narkotisk MoA og nådde grensen for vannløselighet før de utløste noen ER-aktivitet. Understøttende endepunkter som EROD aktivitet kunne ikke forklare forbindelsenes svake østrogenitet og ga støtte til en narkotisk MoA. En østrogen effekt kan heller ikke totalt utelukkes siden de vurderte forbindelsene hadde svært varierende fysikalsk-kjemiske egenskaper som kan ha påvirket den biologiske tilgjengeligheten av forbindelsene i in vitro-systemet. Arbeidet har vist at modellen av primære regnbueørret hepatocytter er et allsidig, multi-endepunkt verktøy for screening av ER-agonister ved hjelp av både enkle biomarkører og global genekspresjon. Bioanalysen ga reproduserbare resultater som demonstrerer dens følsomhet, robusthet og reaksjonsevne i økotoksikologisk screening av stoffer som modulerer aktivitet av ER og nedstrøms cellulære hendelser. Disse funnene kan bidra til en bedre mekanistisk forståelse av godt karakteriserte og nye MoAs knyttet til enkeltstoffer og kombinerte kjemiske eksponeringer i in vitro fisk-modeller. Den globale genekspresjonen var et godt objektivt verktøy til å karakterisere MoA av ER-aktive kjemikalier i primære hepatocytter og identifiserte relevante in vivo ER-medierte reaksjoner. Resultatene i dette arbeidet viser modellens potensial til å bli et viktig (øko)toksikologisk verktøy i screening av potensielle ER-modulerende stoffer. ; Norges Forskningsråd

La arquitectura de la vivienda bioclimática hace referencia a la relación que tiene el clima con la vida humana, a su vez el humano con la vivienda, lo anterior se tiene como pilar fundamental de la explicación del título de la investigación. De igual forma se tiene como pauta principal el clima en función del bienestar del habitar del ser humano como tal dentro de la vivienda y a su vez como el clima juega un rol fundamental dentro de la misma generando así el bienestar de la vivienda como pauta de percepción y como producto generar calidad de vida dentro de la misma, lo anterior visto desde una perspectiva distinta a la función, materialización tradicional o convencional, calidad material entre otros aspectos. Por lo tanto se puede decir que la arquitectura de la vivienda bioclimática en cierta medida funciona como una alternativa de composición arquitectónica en Colombia ya que el usuario busca una temperatura de ideal, cómoda o de bienestar que en muchos casos resulta artificial y producto de la "mecanización del clima" lo cual no traduce a mejorar su calidad de vida sino en satisfacer una necesidad que en la mayoría de los casos debería ser tenida en cuenta desde la composición arquitectónica de la vivienda. El clima y su relación directa con la percepción del mismo dentro del habitar de la vivienda diseñada tradicionalmente obedece a una tendencia funcionalista, política y económica, se han perdido valores cualitativos en función del sentir la vivienda y permanecer en ella como un elemento generador de calidad de vida. El mensaje que se quiere transmitir con el título es en cierta medida una forma de desvirtuar la utilización de arquitectura bioclimática como un concepto complejo o utópico, ajeno como solución alternativa relacionada con el tema de la composición y diseño arquitectónico de vivienda y la utilización del clima dentro de este proceso al que los usuarios que no están muy enterados del tema o no pueden acceder, a su vez fomentar la formulación de valores de juicio no solo para el usuario sino también para aquel que todavía tenga ese sentimiento de preocupación por el desarrollo climático y el bienestar tanto de los usuarios de vivienda como del planeta que en cierta medida quieran concientizarse y preocuparse sobre el tema el cual se convierte en una cuestión a la que en muchos casos se debe recurrir a un tercero para consultar sobre el tema por lo que en muchos casos el usuario se niega a la obtención de nuevo conocimiento y recurre a los sistemas tradicionales para climatizar de manera adecuada mas no ideal y correcta en su vivienda. Por ultimo vale la pena decir que objetivo del enunciado planteado en el titulo no es informar conocimiento para expertos en el tema ni mucho menos desvalorar el conocimiento de los mismos sino que el usuario conozca en cierta medida que existen distintas alternativas espaciales y técnicas que le permitan tener un criterio frente a la utilización del clima dentro de la vivienda mejor estructurado y fundamental partiendo de los recursos climáticos o particularidades del lugar donde se encuentra su vivienda. Este trabajo está enmarcado en la línea teórico práctica de la arquitectura bioclimática; se parte de la selección de los factores climáticos que permitan al ser humano vivir con calidad dentro de su hábitat – vivienda y a la misma arquitectura bioclimática tener contar con una malla que contiene pautas que permitan analizar la interacción de los factores climáticos en el diseño de las viviendas. Por lo anterior, el problema radica en la selección de factores básicos para el diseño bioclimático, el conocimiento a profundidad de sobre las características de la arquitectura bioclimática y las pautas para llegar a esta. El lector encontrará de acuerdo con lo anterior un documento que como primera medida analiza y refiere el planteamiento del problema, su definición, una pregunta de investigación; los objetivos de la investigación; su justificación y relevancia social junto con la implicación práctica, delimitación y limitaciones de la investigación. Luego en el Marco teórico, se plantean diversas teorías que llevan al conocimiento de la arquitectura bioclimática, sus características y antecedentes; se cierra con una línea del tiempo que se utiliza como marco conceptual y ha sido elaborada por el autor como referente histórico conceptual y visual de los cambios arquitectónicos y climáticos que se han dado a lo largo del tiempo en la vivienda humana. En el marco metodológico se describe el tipo de investigación cuyo enfoque es cualitativo e interpretativo; se pretendió definir los parámetros climáticos básicos, llegar al planteamiento de una propuesta de malla que facilitará el análisis de los proyectos presentados (taller de composición 1 parque tercer milenio en Bogotá, taller de composición 2 Camellón del comercio en Girardot y taller de composición 3 La Merced en Bogotá) así como ser la base para el análisis de proyectos construidos o por construir. La información analizada y los instrumento generados se obtuvieron en el transcurso de la Maestría en Arquitectura y Vivienda. Se continua con la presentación el procedimiento que se utilizó para realizar la recolección de información, se muestran los resultados obtenidos en el análisis de los tres proyectos se realiza una análisis de contraste y una matriz desde el análisis de información obtenida, luego se realiza una triangulación de resultados; y se procede a definir las conclusiones del trabajo . "Todo esfuerzo por entender y utilizar las variables, reglas, parámetros o como quisieran llamarlo de aquel juego magnifico y genial llamado arquitectura, todo esfuerzo traduce felicidad" H.G.R 2016 ; Abstract. The bioclimatic housing architecture refers to the relationship between climate and human life. And the human being with housing. This is a fundamental pillar of the explanation of the title of the research. Likewise, the main pattern is the climate in terms of the well-being of the human being. Not only as their habitat, but as such within the dwelling. Also how climate plays a fundamental role within it. In this way it generates well-being of the dwelling as a pattern of perception and as a product to generate quality of life within it. The previous seen from a different perspective to the function, traditional or conventional materialization, and material quality among other aspects. It can be said that the architecture of bioclimatic housing to some extent functions as an alternative architectural composition in Colombia. This is because the user is looking for an ideal, comfortable or well-being temperature that in many cases is artificial and a product of the mechanization of the climate. But this does not translate to improving their quality of life, but in satisfying a need. This in most cases should be taken into account from the architectural composition of the house. The climate and its direct relation with the perception of the same inside the habit of the traditionally designed dwelling obeys a functionalist, political and economic tendency. That is why we can say that qualitative values have been lost depending on the feeling of housing. And therefore remain in it as an element that generates quality of life. The message to be transmitted is to a certain extent a way of distorting the use of bioclimatic architecture as a complex or utopian concept. This is oblivious as an alternative solution related to the theme of architectural composition and design of housing. And in turn to the use of the climate within this process to which users who are not very aware of the issue or cannot access. This at the same time promotes the formulation of judgment values for the user. And also for those who still have that feeling of concern for climate development. Without forgetting the well-being of both the home users and the planet who, to a certain extent, want to become aware and worry about it. This becomes a matter to which in many cases a third should be consulted on the subject. That is why in many cases the user refuses to obtain new knowledge and resorts to traditional systems. All this to adequately climatize more not ideal and properly in your home. Finally it is worth saying that the purpose of the statement in the title is not to inform knowledge for experts in the subject. Neither devalue the knowledge of them. On the contrary, the user knows to some extent that there are different spatial and technical alternatives. Everything to allow you to have a criterion against the use of the climate inside the house. All this is more structured and fundamental based on the climatic resources or particularities of the place where your home is located. This work is framed in the practical theoretical line of bioclimatic architecture. It is part of the selection of climatic factors that allow the human being to live with quality within their habitat or their dwelling. And therefore the same bioclimatic architecture must have a mesh that contains several guidelines. This allows to analyze the interaction of the climatic factors in the design of the houses. Therefore, the problem lies in the selection of basic factors for bioclimatic design. Also in the in-depth knowledge of the characteristics of bioclimatic architecture. And of course the guidelines to reach this. The reader will find in agreement with the above a document that as first measure analyzes and refers the approach of the problem and its definition. At the same time as a research question. Also the objectives of the research. Its justification and social relevance along with the practical implication, delimitation and limitations of the investigation. Then in the theoretical framework, several theories are presented that lead to the knowledge of bioclimatic architecture. Its characteristics and background are established. In the end it closes with a timeline that is used as a conceptual framework. Everything has been elaborated by the author as conceptual reference conceptual-visual. All related to the architectural and climatic changes that have occurred over time in human housing. The methodological framework describes the type of research. Whose approach is qualitative and interpretive? It was intended to define the basic climatic parameters. Also arrive at the proposal of a mesh. With which to facilitate the analysis of the projects presented (composition workshop 1 parque tercer milenio in Bogotá, composition workshop 2 Camellón del comercio in Girardot and composition workshop 3 La Merced in Bogotá). This is to be the basis for the analysis of projects built or to be built. The information analyzed and the instruments generated were obtained during the course of the Master's Degree in Architecture and Housing. The procedure that was used to perform the information collection is then followed by the presentation. Then the results obtained in the analysis of the three projects are shown. A contrast analysis and a matrix are performed from the analysis of the obtained information. The next step is to triangulate results. And as a final point we proceed to define the conclusions of this document. ; Maestría

Supplementary information accompanies this paper at http://www.nature.com/srep ; In recent years, genome-wide association studies have identified 58 independent risk loci for coronary artery disease (CAD) on the autosome. However, due to the sex-specific data structure of the X chromosome, it has been excluded from most of these analyses. While females have 2 copies of chromosome X, males have only one. Also, one of the female X chromosomes may be inactivated. Therefore, special test statistics and quality control procedures are required. Thus, little is known about the role of X-chromosomal variants in CAD. To fill this gap, we conducted a comprehensive X-chromosome-wide meta-analysis including more than 43,000 CAD cases and 58,000 controls from 35 international study cohorts. For quality control, sex-specific filters were used to adequately take the special structure of X-chromosomal data into account. For single study analyses, several logistic regression models were calculated allowing for inactivation of one female X-chromosome, adjusting for sex and investigating interactions between sex and genetic variants. Then, meta-analyses including all 35 studies were conducted using random effects models. None of the investigated models revealed genome-wide significant associations for any variant. Although we analyzed the largest-to-date sample, currently available methods were not able to detect any associations of X-chromosomal variants with CAD. ; This work was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the framework of the e:Med research and funding concept (grant 01ZX1313A-2014). The ADVANCE study was supported by a grant from the Reynold's Foundation and NHLBI grant HL087647. Sample collection in the Cardiogenics Consortium (http://www.cardiogenics.eu/web/) was funded by the 6th Framework Program of the European Union (LSHM-CT-2006-037593). We thank all the participants and clinicians involved in the recruitment process at Cambridge and Leicester (UK), Luebeck and Regensburg (Germany), and Paris (France). CATHGEN was supported by NIH grants HL095987 and HL101621. The Cleveland Clinic Gene Bank study was funded by P01HL076491 (to S.L.H). EGCUT was supported by Estonian Research Council grant no. IUT20-60 and Research Roadmap grant no. 3.2.0304.11-0312 and by University Tartu grant no. ARENG SP1GV. The FGENTCARD-Functional Genomic diagnostic tools for coronary artery disease project was funded by an EU FP6 award. We thank the patients for agreeing to participate in the study. We thank Sonia Youhanna, Nour Moukalled and Bariaa Khalil for their help with subject recruitment and data collection. The work of FINCAVAS was supported by the Competitive Research Funding of the Tampere University Hospital (Grant 9M048 and 9N035), the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the Finnish Foundation for Cardiovascular Research, the Emil Aaltonen Foundation, Finland, and the Tampere Tuberculosis Foundation. The authors thank the staff of the Department of Clinical Physiology for collecting the exercise test data. The GerMIFS studies were supported by grants from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the framework of NGFN and NGFN-plus (Atherogenomics) and e:Med research and funding concept (e:AtheroSysMed, grant 01ZX1313A-2014), the Fondation Leducq (CADgenomics: Understanding CAD Genes, 12CVD02), and the European Union Sixth Framework Programme FP6 (under grant agreement FP6-LIFESCIHEALTH (Cardiogenics)) and the Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013 under grant agreement n° HEALTH-F2-2013-601456 (CVgenes-at-target). The Heart Protection Study (HPS) (ISRCTN48489393) was supported by the UK Medical Research Council (MRC), British Heart Foundation, Merck and Co (manufacturers of simvastatin), and Roche Vitamins Ltd (manufacturers of vitamins). Genotyping was supported by a grant to Oxford University and CNG from Merck and Co. Jemma C. Hopewell acknowledges support from the British Heart Foundation (FS/14/55/30806). HPS acknowledges the National Blood Service (NBS) donors and UK Twin study for using as population controls. A full list of the investigators who contributed to the generation of the NBS data is available from www.wtccc.org.uk. Funding for the project was provided by the Wellcome Trust under award 07611. The UK Twin study was funded by the Wellcome Trust; European Community"s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007–2013). The Helsinki Sudden Death Study (HSDS) was financially supported by EU's 7th Framework Programme (grant no. 201668 for AtheroRemo), the Tampere University Foundation, the Tampere University Hospital Medical Funds (grants X51001, 9M048 and 9N035 for Terho Lehtimäki, the Emil Aaltonen Foundation (Terho Lehtimäki, the Finnish Foundation of Cardiovascular Research (Terho Lehtimäki, Pekka J. Karhunen), the Pirkanmaa Regional Fund of the Finnish Cultural Foundation, the Yrjö Jahnsson Foundation, and the Tampere Tuberculosis Foundation (Terho Lehtimäki). LIFE-Heart is a part of the LIFE – Leipzig Research Center for Civilization Diseases, Universität Leipzig. LIFE is funded by means of the European Union, by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and by means of the Free State of Saxony within the framework of the excellence initiative. The LOLIPOP study is supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Comprehensive Biomedical Research Centre Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, the British Heart Foundation (SP/04/002), the Medical Research Council (G0601966, G0700931), the Wellcome Trust (084723/Z/08/Z), the NIHR (RP-PG-0407-10371), European Union FP7 (EpiMigrant, 279143) and Action on Hearing (G51). We thank the participants and research staff who made the study possible. LURIC was supported by the 7th Framework Program (integrated project AtheroRemo, grant agreement number 201668 and RiskyCAD, grant agreement number 305739) of the European Union and by the INTERREG IV Oberrhein Program (Project A28, Genetic mechanisms of cardiovascular diseases) with support from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Wissenschaftsoffensive TMO. We extend our appreciation to the participants of the LURIC study and thank the LURIC study team who were either temporarily or permanently involved in patient recruitment as well as sample and data handling, in addition to the laboratory staff at the Ludwigshafen General Hospital and the Universities of Freiburg and Ulm, Germany. The MIGen study was funded by R01HL087676 from the US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The Mount Sinai IPM Biobank Program is supported by The Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies. It was in part supported by NHGRI U01HG007417. OHGS_A2, OHGS_B2, and OHGS_C2 were funded by Canadian Institutes of Health Research (# MOP-2380941 to R.M.), (#MOP82810, MOP77682 to R.R., A.F.S. & R.M.); Canada Foundation for Innovation (#11966 to R.R., R.M. & A.F.S.; Heart & Stroke Foundation of Canada (#NA6001, #NA6650 to R.M). PIVUS was supported by Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (Wallenberg Academy Fellow), European Research Council (ERC Starting Grant), Swedish Diabetes Foundation (grant no. 2013-024), Swedish Research Council (grant no. 2012-1397), and Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation (20120197). We thank the SNP&SEQ Technology Platform in Uppsala (www.genotyping.se) for excellent genotyping. The computations were performed on resources provided by SNIC through Uppsala Multidisciplinary Center for Advanced Computational Science (UPPMAX) under Project b2011036. PROCARDIS was supported by the European Community Sixth Framework Program (LSHM-CT- 2007-037273), AstraZeneca, the British Heart Foundation, the Swedish Research Council, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation, the Torsten and Ragnar Söderberg Foundation, the Strategic Cardiovascular Program of Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm County Council, the Foundation for Strategic Research and the Stockholm County Council (560283). Research in SDS was partly supported by NIH grants -R01DK082766 funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases and NOT-HG-11-009 funded by National Genome Research Institute, and VPR Bridge grant from University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, USA. Recruitment for THISEAS was partially funded by a research grant (PENED 2003) from the Greek General Secretary of Research and Technology; we thank all the dieticians and clinicians for their contribution to the project. TwinGene was supported by grants from the Ministry for Higher Education, the Swedish Research Council (M-2005-1112 and 2009-2298), GenomEUtwin (EU/QLRT-2001-01254; QLG2-CT-2002-01254), NIH grant DK U01-066134, Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (Wallenberg Academy Fellow), European Research Council (ERC Starting Grant), Swedish Diabetes Foundation (grant no. 2013-024), Swedish Research Council (grant no. 2012-1397), and Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation (20120197). We thank the SNP&SEQ Technology Platform in Uppsala (www.genotyping.se) for excellent genotyping. The computations were performed on resources provided by SNIC through Uppsala Multidisciplinary Center for Advanced Computational Science (UPPMAX) under Project b2011036. ULSAM was supported by Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (Wallenberg Academy Fellow), European Research Council (ERC Starting Grant), Swedish Diabetes Foundation (grant no. 2013-024), Swedish Research Council (grant no. 2012-1397), and Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation (20120197). We thank the SNP&SEQ Technology Platform in Uppsala (www.genotyping.se) for excellent genotyping. The computations were performed on resources provided by SNIC through Uppsala Multidisciplinary Center for Advanced Computational Science (UPPMAX) under Project b2011036. Recruitment for the WTCCC study was funded by the British Heart Foundation and genotyping by the Wellcome Trust. Themistocles L. Assimes was supported by an NIDDK career development award DK088942. Panos Deloukas's work forms part of the research themes contributing to the translational research portfolio of Barts Cardiovascular Biomedical Research Unit which is supported and funded by the National Institute for Health Research. Analysis was partly supported by BHF grant (to Panos Deloukas) RG/14/5/30893. Martin Farrall and Hugh Watkins acknowledge the support of the Wellcome Trust core award (090532/Z/09/Z) and Martin Farrall, Hugh Watkins and Theodosios Kyriakou, the BHF Centre of Research Excellence. Anuj Goel, Hugh Watkins and Theodosios Kyriakou acknowledge European Union Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013 under grant agreement no. HEALTH-F2-2013-601456 (CVGenes@Target) & and Anuj Goel, the Wellcome Trust Institutional strategic support fund. The UK Twin study was funded by the Wellcome Trust; European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013). PoBI samples from the Wellcome Trust funded People of the British Isles project. Sekar Kathiresan is supported by the Donovan Family Foundation, Fondation Leducq, MGH Research Scholar Award, and R01 HL107816. Andrew P. Morris is a Wellcome Trust Senior Fellow in Basic Biomedical Science, funded under grant WT098017. Christopher P. Nelson and Nilesh J. Samani are funded by the British Heart Foundation and Nilesh J. Samani is a UK NIUHR Senior Investigator. Christopher P. Nelson and Nilesh J. Samani are funded by the British Heart Foundation and Nilesh J. Samani is a UK NIUHR Senior Investigator. Samuli Ripatti was supported by the Academy of Finland Center of Excellence in Complex Disease Genetics (Grant No. 213506 and 129680), Academy of Finland (Grant No. 251217 and 285380), the Finnish foundation for Cardiovascular Research, the Sigrid Juselius Foundation and the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) through the BioSHaRE-EU (Biobank Standardisation and Harmonisation for Research Excellence in the European Union) project, grant agreement 261433. Alexandre F. R. Stewart is supported by operating grants from the Canadian Institute of Health Research and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Hong-Hee Won is supported by a postdoctoral award from the American Heart Association (15POST23280019). ; Peer-reviewed ; Publisher Version

Now before Ukraine on the way to the formation of a stable civil society, along with the problem of national consolidation, is also a problem of adjustment of the normal interethnic relations, protection rights of ethnic and national minorities. In the conditions of the political system's development in Ukrainian society ethnic and national minorities began to engage in the sphere of political activity, seeking to take a rightful place in the process of public and cultural construction.In the multinational composition of Ukraine from time to time the problems of settlement the relations with separate ethnic or national groups, including Russian, Tatar, Romanian and others, are updated and exacerbated. The Polish minority is one of the most numerous national minorities living on the territory of our state. It is marked out by movement strengthening to the self-organization and national identification, and also formation as a subject of policy. There is so important, from our point of view, to research, on the one hand, a role and place of Ukraine in the realization of rights and satisfaction of needs of Poles in Ukraine, and with another – the participations of this minority in social and political processes of the state.Considering the relevance and insufficient studying of this problem, the author set to himself the purpose: 1) to analyze the main features and trends of development of the Polish minority in Ukraine; 2) to identify the key aspects of the participation of the Polish community in the Ukrainian social and political processes.The object of study is the Polish minority in Ukraine as an important part of the civil society and its political system, and the subject is the process of formation, functioning and development of the Polish minority as a subject of modern social and political life of Ukraine.There are 144 130 Poles in Ukraine today, according to the last population census in 2001. It makes 0,3 % from the total number of the population of the state. The Polish take the eighth place in terms of population among the ethnic minorities in Ukraine (after Russians, Belarusians, Moldovans, Crimean Tatars, Bulgarians, Hungarians and Romanians).The resettlement of Poles in Ukraine historically was connected primarily with the Right Bank and Eastern Galicia. The most numerous Polish ethnographic communities formed here. The most part of Polish lived in 2001 in Zhytomyr (49 046 persons; 3,5 % of the population), Khmelnytsky (23 005 persons; 1,6 % of the population) and Lvov (18 948 persons; 0,7 % of the population) regions.In general, the present social, political and religious situation in the environment of the Polish minority is stable and loyal to the Ukrainian government. Social and political moods of Ukrainian Poles naturally determine by both positive and negative sentiments.In January 1992, in Lvov at the Congress of Ukrainian Poles the Federation of the Polish Organizations in Ukraine (FPOU) was founded. It is led now by E. Khmelyova. This organization and the Union of Poles in Ukraine are today the most influential organizational structures of the Polish minority in Ukraine.In November 1994, in Kyiv the societies «Consent», «Solidarity», Cultural and Educational Association of Adam Mickiewicz, Kyiv branch of «The Union of Poles» decided to create «The Coordinating Council of Polish Organizations in Kyiv». Before all Polish non-governmental organizations in this country is to not only revive the local Polish national identity, but also comprehensively facilitate to the productive cultural relations between the two countries.In January 2000, the Polish Institute in Kyiv was established with the support of the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was led by P. Kozakiewicz. Its tasks include: development and promotion of the image of Poland as a modern and democratic state, supporting the exchange of views, the elimination of negative stereotypes in the Ukrainian-Polish relations.The Polish NGOs practiced such forms of activity: teaching the Polish language; establishment and functioning of libraries and publishing activities; research activities; organizing places and cultural sites associated with the history of Poland; organization of cultural and educational activities; assistance in the process of developing national performances etc.There are five schools with education in Polish in Ukraine. These schools, which have about two thousand pupils, function with the support of Polish NGOs. There are four Polish schools in the Lvov region. Two of these schools are located in Lvov, and another two are in the area of Mostynsk. Another school with education in Polish functions in Ivano-Frankivsk. The curriculum at schools with education in Polish introduced the subjects of «History of Poland» and «Geography of Poland».As a subject Polish is studied in Ukraine by more than 4 thousand students, and more than 3 thousand students study Polish facultatively or in circles. Polish is also studied in numerous Ukrainian universities. At the end of 2012 the Polish organizations in Ukraine initiated to provide Polish the status of regional language in the area of Mostynsk. There are about four villages, which population is made by Poles.The western regions, where the most part of the Poles is living, are characterized by vigorous activity of the Polish community in the media sector. Thus, «The Polish word» (25 min.) in the broadcasting of TV «Zhytomyr» is weekly published. And «TRK Union TV» broadcasts daily for the Polish community on the proposal TV «Polonia».Lvov is the capital of the Polish Radio in Ukraine: «Radio Lwow» tells at a frequency of the radio station «The Independence» in different days. There is a program «Program katolicki». The Lvov city NGO «Polskie Towarzystwo Radiowe» works here. An important role in cross-cultural communication is played by Polish Radio for the abroad. There are news, press reviews, comments and reports of correspondents all over the world, interviews and debates, literary and music plots in the broadcasting.Periodicals of the Polish national minority are represented by the following groups of editions:- informational: «Głos Podola» (Kamenetz-Podolsk), «The Monitor of Volyn» (Lutsk), «Kurier Stanisławowski» and «Kurier Galicyjski» (Ivano-Frankivsk), «The Polish Newspaper» (Zhytomyr), «Dzyennik Kiyovski» (Kyiv);- public: «Lwowskie Spotkania» (Lvov), «Harcerz Kresow» (Lvov), «Wspolne Dzedzictwo» (Ternopol), «KOTWICA» (Mykolaiv);- cultural and educational: «The Mosaic of Berdichev» (Berdichev), «The Voice of Teacher» (Drogobych), «Krynica» (Kyiv);- religious: «The Shouts from Volyn» (Ostrog), «The Joy of Belief» (Lvov).Recently the joint Ukrainian-Polish projects in the media sphere, for example, the international interdisciplinary magazine «Ucrainica Polonica» and «The Ukrainian Polonistic» gain the increasing popularity.The status of the Polish national minority in Ukraine is qualitatively different from the status of other minorities, such as Roma or Crimean Tatars. After all, the Poles have their historical homeland, the neighboring of Ukrainian state – the Republic of Poland, from which a financial and institutional support comes. Therefore the self-determination process in Polish minority is quite successful and quick.The negative phenomenon for the image of Ukraine is the fact that it works and develops mainly by financing from the government of Poland. At the current time, for example, all meetings of the Polish community in Lvov Church and departures of children on rehabilitation and training to the Republic of Poland are financed also by Poland.Thus, according to the Association of Polish culture in Lvov, the local administration level of care to ensure the interests of the Polish community in Lvov region, compared with a sponsorship of the Republic of Poland, is zero. Over the last few years the Association of Polish culture received for its needs from Lvov regional state administration only about 2 thousand UAN. It forces the Ukrainian Poles to address on the constant help to the bureaucracy of Poland. In this aspect the chairman of the society E. Legovich opposed a situation with ensuring of requirements of the Ukrainian diaspora in the territory of the Republic of Poland. There are considerable budgetary funds for the satisfaction of its interests, which in accordance with the established procedure are transmitted through the Sejm to the communities of national minorities. So, 2 million zloty (about 5 million UAN) are annually allocated for the needs of the Ukrainian diaspora in Poland. Thus, E. Lehovych notes that the Polish community would be sufficient amount of 100 thousand UAN.However, speaking about the presence of members of the Polish community in the Ukrainian elected authorities and government agencies, we have to note a negative trend associated with the low levels of its representation. Thus, Ukraine has not any political party of the Polish national minority (for example, Hungarian and Russian communities have its own political parties, such as «The Democratic Party of Hungarians of Ukraine», «KMKS» Party of Hungarians of Ukraine, «The Russian block» and others. And these parties of the national minorities stood on elections to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine). The Polish community is not represented in the Ukrainian parliament. There are two Poles among the 66 members of the regional council of Mostynsk (Lvov region). Poles make 20 % of the number of the residents of Mostynsk and 8 % of Poles are living in the area).Thus, we can conclude, that the Polish minority is one of the largest minorities in Ukraine, and it is on its way of the identification and a political subjektivation. Poles in Ukraine experienced the process of assimilation due to an extended stay in limited contacts with their historical homeland, as indicated the data from recent Ukrainian population census. However, a positive is the fact that today the Polish community in Ukraine will intensify its activities, key points of which are:1) preservation of cultural originality and development of cultural creativity;2) functioning of national and cultural, public organizations;3) contacts with the historical homeland and participation in interstate processes.The negative sides of the position of Polish national minority in Ukraine are:1) absence of political communities (political parties) for the representation the minority at official level;2) low level of participation in formation of power structures and representation at all levels of the power (from local to governmental and parliamentary).Also, despite the existence of numerous guarantees of the rights and protection of the freedoms of national minorities in Ukraine, approved at legislative level, the real practice shows an insufficient attention from the Ukrainian government to these questions. The existence and development of the Polish national minority in Ukraine is provided by the contacts with the historical homeland. It practically finances the diaspora. Therefore Ukraine have to accept a number of scientifically reasonable measures in order to the reforming, carried out in education, sciences, public administration and local government, don't entail to the restriction of the right of the minorities, including Polish, to get an education in a state language, to develop and protect own cultural and a creative heritage, to participate in formation of authorities and to have own representation in electoral bodies. ; Статья посвящена выявлению основных черт и тенденций развития польского национального меньшинства в Украине, а также определению ключевых аспектов участия поляков в украинских общественно-политических процессах. Сделана попытка показать уровень гражданской зрелости, политической культуры польской общины в Украине на современном этапе. Особое внимание уделено роли национальной политики украинского государства в процессе политической субъективации польского национального меньшинства. ; Статтю присвячено виявленню основних рис і тенденцій розвитку польської національної меншини в Україні, а також визначенню ключових аспектів участі поляків в українських суспільно-політичних процесах. Зроблено спробу показати рівень громадянської зрілості, політичної культури польської громади в Україні на сучасному етапі. Окрему увагу приділено ролі національної політики Української держави в процесі політичної суб'єктивації польської національної меншини.

ABSTRAKJudul tesis ini adalah Eksistensi Naskah Akademik Dalam Pembentukan Rancangan Peraturan Daerah Berdasarkan Pasal 56 ayat (2), Pasal 57 ayat (2) Undang-Undang Nomor 12 Tahun 2011 dan Pasal 18,20,30 Peraturan Menteri Dalam Negeri Nomor 1 Tahun 2014 (Studi di Kabupaten Bengkayang). Adapun latar belakangnya adalah bahwa Naskah Akademik mempunyai kedudukan yang kuat,karena dengan ditandani naskah akademik menjadi keharusan/wajib dalam Pembentukan Peraturan Perundang-undangan. Namun dalam pembentukan Peraturan Daerah masih belum terlalu kuat hanya bersifat fakultatif dan bisa dilengkapi dengan keterangan atau penjelasan. Urgensi naskah akademik dapat dilihat dari tujuan, kegunaannya dan isi dari naskah akademik dalam pembentukan Peraturan Perundang-undangan. Masalahnya adalah (1) Apakah Penyertaan Naskah Akademik Dalam Pembentukan Rancangan Peraturan Daerah diluar Rancangan Peraturan Daerah Tentang Anggaran dan Belanja Daerah berdasarkan Pasal 56 ayat (2), Pasal 57 ayat (2) Undang-Undang Nomor 12 Tahun 2011, dan Pasal 18, Pasal 20, Pasal 30 Peraturan Menteri Dalam Negeri Nomor 1 Tahun 2014 terhadap rancangan Peraturan Daerah baik yang merupakan inisiatif Pemerintah Daerah (eksekutif di daerah) dan DPRD (legislatif di daerah) wajib disertai dengan penjelasan atau keterangan dan/atau naskah akademik atau hanya bersifat imperatif yang tidak wajib atau fakultatif? (2) Mengapa dalam penyusunan Rancangan Peraturan Daerah di Kabupaten Bengkayang diluar Rancangan Peraturan Daerah Tentang Anggaran dan Belanja Daerah belum seluruhnya menyertakan naskah akademik berdasarkan Pasal 56 ayat (2), Pasal 57 ayat (2) Undang-Undang Nomor 12 Tahun 2011, dan Pasal 18, Pasal 20, Pasal 30 Peraturan Menteri dalam Negeri Nomor 1 Tahun 2014 bahwa rancangan Peraturan Daerah baik yang merupakan inisiatif Pemerintah daerah (eksekutif di daerah) dan DPRD (legislatif di daerah) ?Hasil penelitian tesis dapat disimpulkan, bahwa pertama, Penyertaan Naskah Akademik Dalam Pembentukan Rancangan Peraturan Daerah diluar Rancangan Peraturan Daerah Tentang Anggaran dan Belanja Daerah berdasarkan Pasal 56 ayat (2), Pasal 57 ayat (2) Undang-Undang Nomor 12 Tahun 2011, dan Pasal 18, Pasal 20, Pasal 30 Peraturan Menteri dalam Negeri Nomor 1 Tahun 2014 terhadap rancangan Peraturan Daerah baik yang merupakan inisiatif Pemerintah daerah (eksekutif di daerah) dan DPRD (legislatif di daerah) wajib disertai dengan penjelasan atau keterangan dan/atau naskah akademik atau hanya bersifat imperatif yang tidak wajib atau fakultatif, Kedua, Bahwa penyusunan Rancangan Peraturan Daerah di Kabupaten Bengkayang diluar Rancangan Peraturan Daerah Tentang Anggaran dan Belanja Daerah belum seluruhnya menyertakan naskah akademik berdasarkan Pasal 56 ayat (2), Pasal 57 ayat (2) Undang-Undang Nomor 12 Tahun 2011, dan Pasal 18, Pasal 20, Pasal 30 Peraturan Menteri Dalam Negeri Nomor 1 Tahun 2014 bahwa rancangan Peraturan Daerah baik yang merupakan inisiatif Pemerintah daerah (eksekutif di daerah) dan DPRD (legislatif di daerah) belum seluruhnya rancangan Peraturan daerah di Kabupaten Bengkayang disertai naskah akademik, hal ini karena beberapa faktor yang dapat dikemukana sebagai berikut: (a) Kedudukan naskah akademik menurut UU Nomor 12 Tahun 2011 menjadi wajib bagi pembentukan Undang –2Undang namun dalam pembentukan Peraturan Daerah masih bersifat fakultatif dimana dengan demikian pembuatan naskah akademik boleh digantikan dengan keterangan atau penjelasan. Naskah Akademik hanya sebagai saran dan tidak diwajibkan. (b) Bahwasannya peranan Naskah Akademik sangat diperlukan keberadaannya dalam pembentukan peraturan perundang – undangan di Indonesia baik Undang – Undang maupun Peraturan Daerah, maka naskah akademik dalam pembentukan peraturan daerah juga seharusnya di wajibkan. Dengan kehadiran Naskah Akademik, maka diharapkan dapat lebih efisien, efektif, solutif, adaptif dan mampu menghindari beberapa kali perubahan yang justru akan "mubazir" dalam hal waktu serta pembiayaannya; (c) Eksistensi Naskah Akademik dalam pembentukan Peraturan Daerah dapat dilihat dari Naskah akademik memiliki tujuan dan kegunaan, memuat mengenai landasan dari pada pembuatan suatu aturan yang diambil dari teori-teori perundang-undangan, dalam naskah akademik juga memberikan gambaran mengenai substansi, materi dan ruang lingkup dari peraturan daerah yang akan dibuat yang benar-benar berkualitas dan sesuai dengan tuntutan masyarakat secara luas. (d) Naskah Akademik juga memiliki urgensi dimana dalam naskah akademik memberikan ruang bagi para pengambil keputusan yang berwenang untuk membahas dan menetapkan peraturan daerah (baik pemerintah daerah maupun Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat Daerah) untuk mempertimbangkan apakah substansi/materi yang terkandung dalam Peraturan Daerah itu layak diatur dalam bentuk peraturan daerah atau tidak, dan apakah hanya perlu satu peraturan daerah atau dimungkinkan untuk dituangkan dalam lebih dari satu peraturan (mungkin peraturan sederajat atau peraturan pelaksananya). Saran,(1) Kedudukan naskah akademik dalam pembentukan peraturan daerah seharusnya diwajibkan sama seperti dalam ketentuan mengenai naskah akademik pembentukan undang-undang. Dengan kehadiran Naskah Akademik dalam pembentukan perda sebagai keharusan, maka diharapkan peraturan perundang – undangan ditingkat daerah di seluruh Tanah Air dapat lebih efisien, efektif, solutif, adaptif dan mampu menghindari beberapa kali perubahan yang justru akan "mubazir" dalam hal waktu serta pembiayaannya; (2) Urgensi naskah akademik dalam pembentukan peraturan daerah harus didukung oleh sumber daya manusia yang lebih baik lagi, prosedur yang rumit dalam pembentukan naskah akademik peraturan daeah di upayakan lebih dipermudah, biaya dalam pembuatan naskah akademik perlu ditingkatkan, dan sering terjadi kendala karena keterbatasan waktu maka setidak-tidaknya dalam pembuatan naskah akademik harus diberikan waktu yang lebih banyakKata Kunci: Naskah Akademik, Peraturan Perundang-Undangan, Peraturan Daerah, menerbitkan peraturan daerah atau perda.ABSTRACTThe title of this thesis is The existence of the academic paper in the formation of The local regulation draf based on article 56 paragraph (2), article 57 paragraph (2) The act number 12 of 2011 and article 18,20,30 the minister of home number 1 of 2014 (Study In Bengkayang District) As for the background of the markings is that an academic paper has a strong position with academic paper became mandatory / compulsory in Formation regulatory legislation, but in the formation of Regional Regulation is still not too strong only voluntary and can be equipped with information or explanations. Urgency academic paper can be seen from the purpose, usefulness and content of academic texts in the formation of laws and regulations. The problem is (1) Does Participation Academic Paper In Formation Draft Regional Regulation outside the draft Regional Regulation About Budget and Expenditure under Article 56 paragraph (2), Article 57 paragraph (2) of Law Number 12 of 2011, and Article 18, Article 20, Article 30 Regulation of the Minister of Interior Number 1 of 2014 on the draft Regional Regulations either an initiative of local government (the executive in the area) and the Parliament (the legislative area) must be accompanied by an explanation or information and / or an academic paper or simply is imperative that not mandatory or optional? (2) Why in the preparation of the Draft Regional Regulations in Bengkayang outside the draft Regional Regulation About Budget and Expenditure not yet fully include academic paper by virtue of Article 56 paragraph (2), Article 573paragraph (2) of Law Number 12 of 2011, and Article 18, Article 20, Article 30 Regulation of the Minister of Interior Number 1 of 2014 that the draft Regulation of the Regional whether an initiative of local government (the executive in the area) and the Parliament (local legislative)? Results of the research thesis can be concluded that the first, the Participation Academic Paper In Formation Draft Regional Regulation outside the draft Regional Regulation About Budget and Expenditure under Article 56 paragraph (2), Article 57 paragraph (2) of Law Number 12 of 2011, and Article 18, Article 20, Article 30 Regulation of the Minister of Interior Number 1 of 2014 on the draft Regional Regulations either an initiative of local government (the executive in the area) and the Parliament (the legislative area) must be accompanied by an explanation or information and / or an academic paper or just is imperative that is not mandatory or optional, second, that the preparation of the Draft Regional Regulations in Bengkayang outside the draft Regional Regulation About Budget and Expenditure not yet fully include academic paper by virtue of Article 56 paragraph (2), Article 57 paragraph (2) of the Act Number 12 of 2011, and Article 18, Article 20, Article 30 Regulation of the Minister of Interior Number 1 of 2014 that the draft Regulation of the Regional whether an initiative of local government (the executive in the area) and Parliament (legislative in the area) are not entirely the draft Regulation of the area in Bengkayang with academic text, this is due to several factors that can mentioned as follows: (a) The position of academic texts according to Law Number 12 The year 2011 becomes mandatory for the formation of Law - Law but the establishment still voluntary Regional Regulation where thereby preparing academic papers may be replaced with a description or explanation. Academic Paper merely as suggestions and are not required. (b) Academic Paper indispensable role in the formation of its existence laws - laws in Indonesia, both Law - Law and Local Regulation, the academic paper in the formation of regional regulations should also be enjoined. With the presence of academic paper, it is expected to be more efficient, effective, solution-based, adaptive and able to avoid several amendments that it would be "redundant" in terms of timing and financing; (c) The existence of an academic paper in the formation of Regional Regulations can be seen from the manuscript of academic goals and usability, load on the foundation of the creation of a rule derived from the theories of legislation, in the academic paper also gives an overview of substance, matter and scope of regional regulations that will be made are really high quality and in accordance with the demands of society at large. (d) an academic paper also has the urgency in which the academic texts provide space for decision makers who are authorized to discuss and establish local regulations (both local government and the Council of Representatives Regional) to consider whether suabtsnasi / material contained in regulation area was decent set in the form of local regulations or not, and whether the rules need only one area or possible to poured in more than one rule (rule may equal or implementing regulations). Suggestions: (1) The position of academic texts in the formation of local regulations should be mandatory as in the provisions regarding academic paper making laws. With the presence of an academic paper on the establishment of regulations as a requirement, it is expected that laws - laws at the local level in the country can be more efficient, effective, solution-based, adaptive and able to avoid several amendments that it would be "redundant" in terms of timing and financing; (2) The urgency of an academic paper in the formation of local regulations should supported by human resources better, procedures are complicated in the formation of academic texts regulations elapsed areas in trying to do more in eases, the cost in making the academic paper needs to be improved, and the frequent obstacles due to time constraints it is at least in preparing academic papers should be given more timeKeywords: academic paper, Laws and Regulations, Regional Regulation

The defeat of the Confederacy, the prospect of military occupation and Republican state government, and the financial collapse of many plantations and businesses sent a number of white southerners in pursuit of life in a foreign land during the late 1860s. Between 1865 and the early 1870s approximately five thousand white and black southerners trekked to Mexico (28, 37).1 Todd W. Wahlstrom examines this resettlement by studying colonies in the Texas border state of Coahuila. Much of The Southern Exodus to Mexico chronicles the rise and fall of ambitious colonization plans of such ex-Confederates as Matthew Fontaine Maury (scientist and naval officer from Virginia) and former Louisiana governor Henry Watkins Allen (12, 22). Wahlstrom revises earlier histories, engaging Andrew Rolle's The Lost Cause: The Confederate Exodus to Mexico (1965) that describes Confederate flight as "an attempt to snatch some sort of victory out of defeat"2 and as an expression of delusional efforts to preserve Dixie in the Mexican highlands. Wahlstrom seeks to revise Rolle's contention that the southern exodus was a "failure" through revealing "the scope of the vision behind it" (xv). Although Rolle largely ignores the northern Mexican borderlands, Wahlstrom also emphasizes colonization in Coahuila, arguing that border states contributed to a "hemispheric south" where planters and railroad promoters envisioned business and trade networks across the Mexican borderlands and into Latin America during the last third of the nineteenth century (xxvii). Wahlstrom also considers the experiences of African Americans and non-slaveholding whites. Contra Rolle's account, southern emigrants to Mexico did not solely represent a "Lost Cause" flight of renegade whites, but a commercial vanguard. Economic interests yielded unlikely collaborations between Confederate exiles and Mexican liberals who returned to power in 1867 (85). Most of these commercial efforts involved agricultural enterprises, ranging from grand schemes for cotton plantations to the homesteads of black and white yeoman settlers who saw Mexico as an "agricultural paradise just waiting for southern migrants to build up its economy" (23). Mexico might seem an unlikely destination for defeated Confederates, as its government formally abolished caste distinctions and chattel slavery after it gained independence in 1821. Additionally, Mexico had engaged in a war with pro-slavery Anglo settlers in Texas during the 1830s, and was still reeling from the effects of US invasion and occupation from 1846 to 1848. Nevertheless, a unique set of political circumstances made settlement appear promising in the summer of 1865. Under the imperial rule of Maximilian, the republican opposition forces of Benito Juárez were at low ebb, despite growing US pressure for France to decrease its presence in Mexico. Even after Mexico's loss of its northern territory to the US in 1848, vast areas remained beyond government control. Imperial forces, republican resistance, local strongmen, and indigenous peoples all contested Mexico's shifting borderlands.3 Over three centuries after Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and Estevanico traversed the region, nineteenth-century Coahuila remained a "middle ground" between Apache, Comanche, and Kickapoo Indians, indigenous peoples who migrated into the area to either avoid white settlement or raid white settler outposts. Readers of James Brooks, Pekka Hämäläinen, and Brian DeLay will recognize the "network of violence, theft, and trade" that characterized Coahuila's society during much of the nineteenth century (63–68).4 Wahlstrom does not go as far as these three historians in describing Indian nations as primary powers of this territory, as he finds their sway over Coahuila to be somewhat diminished by the 1860s (64–66). These indigenous groups figure primarily as vexatious raiders in The Southern Exodus to Mexico, not as existential threats to ex-Confederate settlements. Confederate migration to Mexico is one point in a longer arc of Spanish and Mexican efforts to attract settlers to their northern borders in order to control the region. Andrés Reséndez documents the motives that led Mexican officials and, particularly, an ambitious northern Mexican commercial class to attract US settlement and trade during the first half of the nineteenth century.5 Wahlstrom's research makes clear that the US-Mexico War did not diminish economic and settlement patterns. Instead, ex-Confederate migration mapped onto earlier patterns of migration from southern US states to the borderlands of Texas, New Mexico, and the adjacent areas of Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, Coahuila, and Chihuahua. There, white southerners from a slaveholding society found familiar class and labor dynamics. While Mexico was a multiracial nation that espoused the equality of all citizens before the law, it retained sharp divisions between Spanish-descended creoles, mestizos, and indigenous groups. Throughout the nineteenth century, Mexican liberals "argued that white immigration would bring economic advancement," modernization, and a whitening of the Mexican population (21). For their part, many white colonists brought a "racial exclusivity that only included elite Mexicans in the colonization plans." These transplants did not share the goal of transforming their host nation through assimilation or absorption (85). For many African Americans who escaped slavery or the new forms of bondage that emerged after the Civil War, Mexico often represented freedom from racial oppression.6 Sean Kelley, in a study of runaway slaves before the Civil War, vividly describes how Texan African Americans viewed Mexico as the land of liberty.7 While employment by white colonists—often former slave owners—brought an unspecified number of black southerners to Mexico, Wahlstrom argues that their migration "corresponds with other forms of African American agency in the postwar period" (133). However, Wahlstrom also states that black southerners often relocated "under duress" with their former masters (39). In such instances, this agency involved escaping the oversight of former slave owners, as was the case of Thomas C. Hindman, an ex-Confederate general who witnessed the flight of former slave Charlie and the "defection" of other former slaves to Mexico (39). A desire to acquire land and earn economic independence attracted blacks to Coahuila, even though many white colonists envisioned for them only a subservient role on estates that recreated southern plantation life (46, 132, 133). At times, black southerners attempted to form their own colonies. Wahlstrom describes the efforts of William Ellis, whose short-lived 1894 colony in the Laguna area of Durango stands outside the temporal scope of his study but warrants consideration as an emblematic representation of both Mexico's potential and peril to blacks. The settlers experienced "exploitation" as agricultural workers as well as a "swath of yellow fever." Ultimately, when the settlement disbanded, the seventy remaining blacks left the Laguna colony to work in nearby mines. Wahlstrom simply asserts that "seventy of these colonists picked up their hopes and went to the mining town of Mapimí to continue their pursuit of freedom" (46). However, William Beezley's discussion of mining in northern Mexico during this period casts a stark shadow on these optimistic notes; miners endured grueling labor conditions in unlit, poorly ventilated shafts, working with simple hand tools and suffering from exposure to mercury and other toxic compounds.8 Relocation to Mexico offered freedom from Jim Crow; nevertheless, opportunities for economic advancement were often limited for African American emigrants. Wahlstrom's emphasis on leading colonizers such as Matthew Maury, and the political machinations between elite southerners and Mexican officials, obscures insights into the everyday experiences of black and white southern emigrants. While Mexico's leaders found "common ground" with former Confederates in their quest for white immigration, popular Mexican reactions to this influx of American settlers, aside from frequent references to "banditry," do not appear in The Southern Exodus to Mexico (21). An overall impression emerges that white southern colonists created isolated, self-contained enclaves characterized by a southern Protestantism in sharp relief to Mexican Catholicism (143). Wahlstrom's study affords little insight into the competing concerns over religion, language, legal procedure, intermarriage, and schooling that marked the settlement of other Mexican colonies. Aside from passing references to marriages and women and children held as captives, this history centers almost entirely on male settlers. Nancy Brigham, a widowed woman who settled with a group of Texans in the Córdoba colony of central Mexico, is one of the few women mentioned. Wahlstrom ventures that "her involvement reflects the appeal of Mexico as grounds for economic revival, a way to resuscitate her family's future" (24). Nevertheless, beyond ambitions for new farmland and speculative business prospects, Wahlstrom does not investigate how settlers attempted to recreate Dixie on the Mexican borderlands in cultural or spatial terms. Instead, Wahlstrom traces US investment in Mexican railways, contending that economic interests were central to early efforts to link the two nations. He documents the competing efforts of former Union general William S. Rosecrans, who promoted a Mexico Pacific and Rio Bravo Railroad from New Orleans to Mazatlán, and Edward Lee Plumb, who planned to connect Laredo to San Blas on Mexico's Pacific Coast (115–117). As both proposals ultimately failed, Wahlstrom can only make limited claims about the "bilateral benefits of trade and economic development to Mexico and the South" (117). He nonetheless argues that these promoters "helped instill new pathways of prosperity and steer[ed] a course of transnational connections between the United States and Mexico during the second half of the nineteenth century" (127). Such glowing descriptions aside, the efforts of Confederate exiles in Mexico produced few tangible results in railroad and industry in the decade following the Civil War. The final chapter of The Southern Exodus to Mexico makes a more convincing case that southern emigration to Mexico was a harbinger of a "New South" where white leaders embraced industry, finance, and commerce to progressively diversify an agrarian economy, while maintaining a conservative approach to labor and race relations (124–125). At a general level, Mexico's leaders shared these conservative tendencies (21). The transition from imperial rule to liberal governance made economic interests paramount in Mexico's immigration efforts. Several of the Mexican officials who brokered for southern colonists in the 1860s later worked to forge a borderlands economy through the promotion of railroads, mining, and commercial agriculture under Porfirio Díaz. Santiago Vidaurri, a regional strongman and ally of Díaz who exercised political and military dominance over Coahuila, facilitated these emerging trade connections (71–72). Wahlstrom details how this particular migration period anticipates a coming era of US empire-building, where extensive commercial interests, especially in agriculture, created semi-colonial regimes in Mexico and Central America. Importantly, however, Confederate migration does not mark the beginning of US or imperial interest in Mexico. Juan Mora Torres, who also explores the emergence of a transnational economy in northeastern Mexico, dates the foundation of this "hemispheric" economy to the cotton trade that flourished before and during the Civil War.9 The Southern Exodus to Mexico makes a more convincing case that white southerners endeavored to promote cross-border business after the Civil War and that the increased publicity of Mexico's economic potential strengthened the case for foreign investment and more direct transportation linkages (111–112, 127). Ultimately, Wahlstrom provides few examples of lasting economic success or significant social transformations within these attempted southern colonies.

L'attività di ricerca descritta nella presente tesi di dottorato nasce dalla prima esperienza in Regione Campania di Dottorati in Azienda, finanziata con fondi Por Fse 2007-2013. In particolare, l'azienda che ha accolto con fervente entusiasmo e altrettanta professionalità l'attività di dottorato è l'Associazione Costruttori Edili di Napoli (ACEN). L'ACEN è un'associazione tra aziende private che opera nel settore delle costruzioni con finalità di salvaguardia e tutela dell'imprenditoria, di sviluppo e progresso dell'industria delle costruzioni, di qualificazione professionale delle imprese del settore e del loro avanzamento tecnologico. Date le finalità dell'Associazione, gli obiettivi dell'attività di dottorato sono stati definiti durante diversi mesi di confronto e collaborazione tra il Dipartimento di Strutture per l'Ingegneria e l'Architettura e l'ACEN. Perseguendo il fine di un progetto vasto e comune, i costruttori hanno manifestato l'esigenza di implementare e indagare nuovi metodi e procedure che potessero rendere più efficiente il processo edilizio e che fornissero strumenti per il monitoraggio e il controllo dei tempi e dei costi degli interventi edilizi. Il Dipartimento universitario, d'altro canto, seguendo il crescente interesse scientifico riferito allo sviluppo sostenibile nel settore delle costruzioni, hanno diretto le scelte verso lo studio e l'approfondimento di materiali e tecniche per l'edilizia con basso impatto ambientale. Pertanto si è cercato di interpretare le esigenze dei diversi soggetti coinvolti, stabilendo di approfondire alcune tematiche che, attualmente, governano la scena mondiale del settore delle costruzioni, quali la progettazione integrata e lo sviluppo sostenibile. Quest'ultimi principi rappresentano, appunto, i due fili conduttori che hanno ispirato le diverse attività descritte nei capitoli di cui la tesi si compone nonché, chiaramente, il titolo del presente lavoro: "Metodologie BIM per la progettazione integrata di interventi di riqualificazione e rinforzo strutturale orientati alla sostenibilità ambientale". Il Building Information Modeling (BIM), è una metodologia di progettazione e gestione delle opere civili che permette l'integrazione in un modello 3D, unico e condiviso, di tutti i livelli di progettazione quali architettonico, strutturale ed impiantistico, mediante una modellazione parametrica ad oggetti. Ogni oggetto non è più una mera rappresentazione grafica, riconoscibile per mezzo di dettagli o legende, ma un elemento 3D ricco di informazioni di vario genere che descrivono il comportamento meccanico, termico e funzionale dell'oggetto fino ad arrivare a dettagli specifici come il costo, il produttore, la provenienza e lo stato manutentivo dello stesso. Le forti potenzialità del BIM nell'archiviazione e gestione delle informazioni generate durante tutto il processo edilizio, dalla fase di ideazione di un'opera, passando per la progettazione e la realizzazione fino alla sua fase di uso, identifica tale metodologia come strumento a supporto della gestione di tutto il ciclo di vita delle opere civili. Il BIM risponde a pieno alle esigenze delle imprese di costruzioni che oggi si trovano ad affrontare realizzazioni di opere sempre più complesse con una richiesta di prestazioni sempre più elevata in uno scenario di crisi del settore. Pertanto, il controllo accurato delle quantità, dei costi e il monitoraggio contestuale dei tempi, tramite la gestione del cronoprogramma integrata con il modello BIM, sono le potenzialità che maggiormente hanno catturato l'interesse da parte di ACEN nell'affrontare questo tema di ricerca. L'attività di studio e ricerca sul BIM è stata integrata al tema dello sviluppo sostenibile del settore delle costruzioni, incentrato sull'implementazione di strumenti a supporto dei professionisti per facilitare il processo di decision making in un'ottica di riduzione degli impatti ambientali delle opere civili. La sostenibilità e l'eco-compatibilità dei materiali e dei processi produttivi dell'edilizia, sono oggi criteri che influenzano tutto il settore, a partire dalle strategie politiche di investimento fino a diventare parametri di preferenza per l'aggiudicazione di gare d'appalto. Da alcuni anni si sono infatti sviluppati diversi strumenti per la valutazione e la certificazione della sostenibilità nel campo dell'edilizia, come i sistemi di rating (es. LEED e Itaca), che risultano molto utilizzati anche nella pratica professionale. Un'altra metodologia che sta avendo una forte affermazione nel settore edilizio, soprattutto nell'industria di prodotto, è il Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). Tale strumento permette di valutare gli impatti sull'ambiente di un prodotto o un processo, durante tutto il suo ciclo di vita, tenendo conto della fase di estrazione dei materiali, della fase di produzione e/o realizzazione, della fase di uso e, infine, della fase di dismissione o riciclo. Tale approccio alla valutazione degli impatti ambientali è anche noto come "from cradle to grave", espressione anglosassone che evidenzia in maniera esaustiva la filosofia life cycle-oriented. La metodologia LCA è dunque molto diffusa per la valutazione degli impatti sull'ambiente dei singoli materiali o dei processi produttivi industriali, ma non è ancora molto utilizzata per valutare gli impatti di sistemi complessi come le opere civili. Quest'aspetto, approfondito durante la trattazione, è determinato dalla forte complessità nel condurre tali analisi e dall'enorme quantità di dati e di informazioni da reperire e gestire. La gestione della complessità delle analisi LCA attraverso gli strumenti offerti dalla progettazione integrata BIM rappresenta sicuramente il minimo comune denominatore di tutte le attività seguite, svolte ed infine rappresentate nel presente elaborato. L'obiettivo di gestire valutazioni di impatto ambientale LCA-based con la metodologia BIM è quello di ampliare il campo delle ipotesi progettuali e del decision making degli operatori del settore delle costruzioni in modo tale da progettare e realizzare opere volte al minor impatto sull'ambiente. Un altro caso applicativo, di tale integrazione, è stato trattato con riferimento al consolidamento degli edifici esistenti ed in particolare alla valutazione di LCA di diverse tecniche di intervento per il rinforzo sismico per il raggiungimento del miglioramento e adeguamento sismico. E' ben noto che in Italia il patrimonio edilizio è caratterizzato da un'elevata vulnerabilità e gli ultimi eventi sismici, che hanno interessato il territorio nazionale, hanno confermato tale stato di degrado. Sebbene alcune aree italiane siano state classificate come sismiche già dalle ultime decadi del ventesimo secolo, negli edifici esistenti, si riscontrano sistematicamente regole sismiche di progetto obsolete che non sono in grado di assicurare un adeguato livello di sicurezza. Le strutture in cemento armato, realizzate prima delle moderne norme antisismiche, che rappresentano una parte significativa dell'edilizia italiana, sono state progettate per resistere primariamente ai carichi verticali, il che comporta scarsa qualità dei materiali, mancanza di cura nei dettagli costruttivi e soprattutto una ridotta quantità di armatura trasversale. I dati ISTAT del 14° censimento della popolazione e degli edifici hanno rilevato che per il solo costruito in cemento armato il 35% degli edifici sono stati costruiti prima dell'emanazione della Legge 2/2/74 n.64, in cui compaiono le prime disposizioni in materia antisismica. Il dato diventa ancora più allarmante se si considera che solo nel 2003, con l'emanazione dell'O.P.C.M. 3274, è stata effettuata una riclassificazione sismica del territorio italiano e sono comparse prescrizioni sismiche di moderna concezione. E' lecito ritenere che la maggior parte delle strutture esistenti soffrono di carenze strutturali e quindi necessitano di interventi di rinforzo sismico. Tuttavia il forte interesse per la riqualificazione degli edifici esistenti non nasce solo da una spingente necessità strutturale ma anche dall'andamento degli investimenti nell'industria delle costruzioni. In Italia, infatti, l'industria delle costruzioni mostra una diminuzione degli investimenti di circa il 32,1% dal 2008 al 2014 destinati alla realizzazione di nuove opere; di contro, si registra un aumento di investimenti per il recupero delle costruzioni esistenti di circa il 17% dal 2008 al 2014 [1] (CRESME ricerche SPA, 2014). Per tali motivi si è scelto di dedicare una particolare attenzione allo studio della vulnerabilità sismica di un edificio esistente che rispecchia le caratteristiche di una parte del costruito presente sul territorio italiano; lo studio è stato corredato da valutazione di LCA delle tecniche di rinforzo sismico con l'obiettivo di condurre un'analisi comparativa delle stesse. Quest'ultimo aspetto ha conferito alla parte di adeguamento e miglioramento sismico una connotazione innovativa e assolutamente in linea con le nuove necessità di protezione e controllo dell'ambiente. L'elaborato di tesi si articola, quindi, in cinque capitoli di cui si riporta una breve discussione del contenuto. Il Capitolo 1 illustra nel dettaglio la metodologia BIM, le sue potenzialità e i campi di applicazioni nella gestione della progettazione, nella realizzazione dell'opera, nell'organizzazione del cantiere e nella fase di gestione post operam (Facility Management). Si affrontano, inoltre, i diversi livelli di dettaglio della modellazione BIM comparandoli con i livelli di progettazione previsti dalla normativa italiana. Il Capitolo 2 affronta la modellazione di oggetti BIM, in particolare, della categoria di elementi strutturali e non strutturali. Per i primi si illustra come caso applicativo quello di un pilastro caratterizzato dai parametri relativi alle caratteristiche meccaniche e geometriche; mentre per gli elementi non strutturali si descrive la modellazione di un serramento per esterni e stratigrafia di una pavimentazione. Il Capitolo 3 descrive un caso di studio rappresentato da un'opera di nuova costruzione progettata in maniera tradizionale mediante un approccio CAD-oriented e riprogettata mediante un approccio BIM-oriented. Il progetto fa riferimento alla costruzione della Cassa Edile di Napoli inserita nel contesto della Cittadella dei Servizi degli Enti Paritetici di Napoli. Tale intervento prende vigore dalle intuizioni di Luigi Cosenza che progettò la Cittadella circa cinquant'anni fa, ma che fu realizzata solo in parte. Il progetto e tutta la documentazione sono stati messi a disposizione da ACEN. Il Capitolo 4 descrive un framework per integrare nella metodologia BIM analisi di impatto ambientale LCA-oriented. Dopo un'articolata disamina della procedura LCA, è descritta la metodologia d'interpretazione dei risultati IMPACT2002+. In tale attività si è sviluppato un prototipo di tool software che permette di effettuare analisi di LCA direttamente dal computo metrico dei materiali e delle lavorazioni necessarie per la realizzazione di un'opera. Tale attività nasce dalla collaborazione tra il Dipartimento di Strutture per l'Ingegneria e l'Architettura dell'Università Federico II di Napoli, il Consorzio TRE (Tecnologie per il Recupero Edilizio), il centro di ricerca AMRA (Analisi e Monitoraggio del Rischio Ambientale) e la società ACCA Software nell'ambito del progetto VINCES (Valutazione Integrata del Ciclo di vita per l'Edilizia Sostenibile). Nel Capitolo 5 si presenta una metodologia BIM-based di valutazione degli impatti ambientali relativi a diverse strategie progettuali di rinforzo sismico su una struttura esistente. La metodologia è applicata ad un caso di studio, per il quale, si è condotto preliminarmente un progetto simulato per ottenere tutti i dati necessari alla valutazione di vulnerabilità sismica di un edificio tipo mediante analisi statica non lineare. Note le crisi strutturali è stato realizzato il progetto di consolidamento strutturale mediante l'utilizzo di diverse tecniche di rinforzo sismico volte all'ottenimento sia del miglioramento sia dell'adeguamento sismico. Una volta noti gli interventi di rinforzo necessari, sono state condotte analisi di LCA degli stessi e sono state effettate analisi comparative che hanno consentito di individuare, tra tutte le tipologie di intervento, quella con il minor impatto ambientale.

Temporary or permanent, local or international, voluntary or forced, legal or illegal, registered or unregistered migrations of individuals, whole communities or individual groups are an important factor in constructing and modifying (modern) societies. The extent of international migrations is truly immense. At the time of the preparation of this publication more than 200 million people have been involved in migrations in a single year according to the United Nations. Furthermore, three times more wish to migrate, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa towards some of the most economically developed areas of the world according to the estimates by the Gallup Institute (Esipova, 2011). Some authors, although aware that it is not a new phenomenon, talk about the era of migration (Castles, Miller, 2009) or the globalization of migration (Friedman, 2004). The global dimensions of migration are definitely influenced also by the increasingly visible features of modern societies like constantly changing conditions, instability, fluidity, uncertainty etc. (Beck, 2009; Bauman, 2002).The extent, direction, type of migrations and their consequences are affected by many social and natural factors in the areas of emigration and immigration. In addition, researchers from many scientific disciplines who study migrations have raised a wide range of research questions (Boyle, 2009, 96), use a variety of methodological approaches and look for different interpretations in various spatial, temporal and contextual frameworks. The migrations are a complex, multi-layered, variable, contextual process that takes place at several levels. Because of this, research on migrations has become an increasingly interdisciplinary field, since the topics and problems are so complex that they cannot be grasped solely and exclusively from the perspective of a single discipline or theory. Therefore, we are witnessing a profusion of different "faces of migration", which is reflected and at the same time also contributed to by this thematic issue of the journal Ars & Humanitas.While mobility or migration are not new phenomena, as people have moved and migrated throughout the history of mankind, only recently, in the last few decades, has theoretical and research focus on them intensified considerably. In the last two decades a number of research projects, university programs and courses, research institutes, scientific conferences, seminars, magazines, books and other publications, involving research, academia as well as politics and various civil society organizations have emerged. This shows the recent exceptional interest in the issue of migration, both in terms of knowledge of the processes involved, their mapping in the history of mankind, as well as the theoretical development of migration studies and daily management of this politically sensitive issue.Migration affects many entities on many different levels: the individuals, their families and entire communities at the local level in the emigrant societies as well as in the receiving societies. The migration is changing not only the lives of individuals but whole communities and societies, as well as social relations; it is also shifting the cultural patterns and bringing important social transformations (Castles 2010). This of course raises a number of questions, problems and issues ranging from human rights violations to literary achievements. Some of these are addressed by the authors in this thematic issue.The title "Many faces of migration", connecting contributions in this special issue, is borrowed from the already mentioned Gallup Institute's report on global migration (Esipova, 2011). The guiding principle in the selection of the contributions has been their diversity, reflected also in the list of disciplines represented by the authors: sociology, geography, ethnology and cultural anthropology, history, art history, modern Mediterranean studies, gender studies and media studies. Such an approach necessarily leads not only to a diverse, but at least seemingly also incompatible, perhaps even opposing views "on a given topic. However, we did not want to silence the voices of "other" disciplines, but within the reviewing procedures actually invited scientists from the fields represented by the contributors to this volume. The wealth of the selected contributions lies therefore not only in their coherence and complementarity, but also in the diversity of views, stories and interpretations.The paper of Zora Žbontar deals with the attitudes towards foreigners in ancient Greece, where the hospitality to strangers was considered so worthy a virtue that everyone was expected to "demonstrate hospitality and protection to any foreigner who has knocked on their door". The contrast between the hospitality of ancient Greece and the modern emergence of xenophobia and ways of dealing with migration issues in economically developed countries is especially challenging. "In an open gesture of hospitality to strangers the ancient Greeks showed their civilization".Although the aforementioned research by the United Nations and Gallup Institute support some traditional stereotypes of the main global flows of migrants, and the areas about which the potential migrants "dream", Bojan Baskar stresses the coexistence of different migratory desires, migration flows and their interpretations. In his paper he specifically focuses on overcoming and relativising stereotypes as well as theories of immobile and non-enterprising (Alpine) mountain populations and migrations.The different strategies of the crossing borders adopted by migrant women are studied by Mirjana Morokvasic. She marks them as true social innovators, inventing different ways of transnational life resulting in a bottom-up contribution to the integrative processes across Europe. Some of their innovations go as far as to shift diverse real and symbolic boundaries of belonging to a nation, gender, profession.Elaine Burroughs and Zoë O'Reilly highlight the close relations between the otherwise well-established terminology used in statistics and science to label immigrants in Ireland and elsewhere in EU, and the negative representations of certain types of migrants in politics and the public. The discussion focusses particularly on asylum seekers and illegal immigrants who come from outside the EU. The use of language can quickly become a political means of exclusion, therefore the authors propose the development and use of more considerate and balanced migration terminology.Damir Josipovič proposes a change of the focal point for identifying and interpreting the well-studied migrations in the former Yugoslavia. The author suggests changing the dualistic view of these migrations to an integrated, holistic view. Instead of a simplified understanding of these migrations as either international or domestic, voluntary or forced, he proposes a concept of pseudo-voluntary migrations.Maja Korać-Sanderson's contribution highlights an interesting phenomenon in the shift in the traditional patterns of gender roles. The conclusions are derived from the study of the family life of Chinese traders in transitional Serbia. While many studies suggest that child care in recent decades in immigrant societies is generally performed by immigrants, her study reveals that in Serbia, the Chinese merchants entrust the care of their children mostly to local middle class women. The author finds this switch of roles in the "division of labour" in the child care favourable for both parties involved.Francesco Della Puppa focuses on a specific part of the mosaic of contemporary migrations in the Mediterranean: the Bangladeshi immigrant community in the highly industrialized North East of Italy. The results of his in-depth qualitative study reveal the factors that shape this segment of the Bangladeshi diaspora, the experiences of migrants and the effects of migration on their social and biographical trajectories.John A. Schembri and Maria Attard present a snippet of a more typical Mediterranean migration process - immigration to Malta. The authors highlight the reduction in migration between Malta and the United Kingdom, while there is an increase in immigration to Malta from the rest of Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. Amongst the various impacts of immigration to Malta the extraordinary concentration of immigrant populations is emphasized, since the population density of Malta far exceeds that of nearly all other European countries.Miha Kozorog studies the link between migration and constructing their places of their origin. On the basis of Ardener's theory the author expresses "remoteness" of the emigratory Slavia Friulana in terms of topology, in relation to other places, rather than in topography. "Remoteness" is formed in relation to the "outside world", to those who speak of "remote areas" from the privileged centres. The example of an artistic event, which organizers aim "to open a place like this to the outside world", "to encourage the production of more cosmopolitan place", shows only the temporary effect of such event on the reduction of the "remoteness".Jani Kozina presents a study of the basic temporal and spatial characteristics of migration "of people in creative occupations" in Slovenia. The definition of this specific segment of the population and approach to study its migrations are principally based on the work of Richard Florida. The author observes that people with creative occupations in Slovenia are very immobile and in this respect quite similar to other professional groups in Slovenia, but also to the people in creative professions in the Southern and Eastern Europe, which are considered to be among the least mobile in Europe. Detailed analyses show that the people in creative occupations from the more developed regions generally migrate more intensely and are also more willing to relocate.Mojca Pajnik and Veronika Bajt study the experiences of migrant women with the access to the labour market in Slovenia. Existing laws and policies push the migrants into a position where, if they want to get to work, have to accept less demanding work. In doing so, the migrant women are targets of stereotyped reactions and practices of discrimination on the basis of sex, age, attributed ethnic and religious affiliation, or some other circumstances, particularly the fact of being migrants. At the same time the latter results in the absence of any protection from the state.Migration studies often assume that the target countries are "modern" and countries of origin "traditional". Anıl Al- Rebholz argues that such a dichotomous conceptualization of modern and traditional further promotes stereotypical, essentialist and homogenizing images of Muslim women in the "western world". On the basis of biographical narratives of young Kurdish and Moroccan women as well as the relationships between mothers and daughters, the author illustrates a variety of strategies of empowerment of young women in the context of transnational migration.A specific face of migration is highlighted in the text of Svenka Savić, namely the face of artistic migration between Slovenia and Serbia after the Second World War. The author explains how more than thirty artists from Slovenia, with their pioneering work in three ensembles (opera, ballet and theatre), significantly contributed to the development of the performing arts in the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad.We believe that in the present thematic issue we have succeeded in capturing an important part of the modern European research dynamic in the field of migration. In addition to well-known scholars in this field several young authors at the beginning their research careers have been shortlisted for the publication. We are glad of their success as it bodes a vibrancy of this research area in the future. At the same time, we were pleased to receive responses to the invitation from representatives of so many disciplines, and that the number of papers received significantly exceeded the maximum volume of the journal. Recognising and understanding of the many faces of migration are important steps towards the comprehensive knowledge needed to successfully meet the challenges of migration issues today and even more so in the future. It is therefore of utmost importance that researchers find ways of transferring their academic knowledge into practice – to all levels of education, the media, the wider public and, of course, the decision makers in local, national and international institutions. The call also applies to all authors in this issue of the journal.

Temporary or permanent, local or international, voluntary or forced, legal or illegal, registered or unregistered migrations of individuals, whole communities or individual groups are an important factor in constructing and modifying (modern) societies. The extent of international migrations is truly immense. At the time of the preparation of this publication more than 200 million people have been involved in migrations in a single year according to the United Nations. Furthermore, three times more wish to migrate, mostly from sub-Saharan Africa towards some of the most economically developed areas of the world according to the estimates by the Gallup Institute (Esipova, 2011). Some authors, although aware that it is not a new phenomenon, talk about the era of migration (Castles, Miller, 2009) or the globalization of migration (Friedman, 2004). The global dimensions of migration are definitely influenced also by the increasingly visible features of modern societies like constantly changing conditions, instability, fluidity, uncertainty etc. (Beck, 2009; Bauman, 2002).The extent, direction, type of migrations and their consequences are affected by many social and natural factors in the areas of emigration and immigration. In addition, researchers from many scientific disciplines who study migrations have raised a wide range of research questions (Boyle, 2009, 96), use a variety of methodological approaches and look for different interpretations in various spatial, temporal and contextual frameworks. The migrations are a complex, multi-layered, variable, contextual process that takes place at several levels. Because of this, research on migrations has become an increasingly interdisciplinary field, since the topics and problems are so complex that they cannot be grasped solely and exclusively from the perspective of a single discipline or theory. Therefore, we are witnessing a profusion of different "faces of migration", which is reflected and at the same time also contributed to by this thematic issue of the journal Ars & Humanitas.While mobility or migration are not new phenomena, as people have moved and migrated throughout the history of mankind, only recently, in the last few decades, has theoretical and research focus on them intensified considerably. In the last two decades a number of research projects, university programs and courses, research institutes, scientific conferences, seminars, magazines, books and other publications, involving research, academia as well as politics and various civil society organizations have emerged. This shows the recent exceptional interest in the issue of migration, both in terms of knowledge of the processes involved, their mapping in the history of mankind, as well as the theoretical development of migration studies and daily management of this politically sensitive issue.Migration affects many entities on many different levels: the individuals, their families and entire communities at the local level in the emigrant societies as well as in the receiving societies. The migration is changing not only the lives of individuals but whole communities and societies, as well as social relations; it is also shifting the cultural patterns and bringing important social transformations (Castles 2010). This of course raises a number of questions, problems and issues ranging from human rights violations to literary achievements. Some of these are addressed by the authors in this thematic issue.The title "Many faces of migration", connecting contributions in this special issue, is borrowed from the already mentioned Gallup Institute's report on global migration (Esipova, 2011). The guiding principle in the selection of the contributions has been their diversity, reflected also in the list of disciplines represented by the authors: sociology, geography, ethnology and cultural anthropology, history, art history, modern Mediterranean studies, gender studies and media studies. Such an approach necessarily leads not only to a diverse, but at least seemingly also incompatible, perhaps even opposing views "on a given topic. However, we did not want to silence the voices of "other" disciplines, but within the reviewing procedures actually invited scientists from the fields represented by the contributors to this volume. The wealth of the selected contributions lies therefore not only in their coherence and complementarity, but also in the diversity of views, stories and interpretations.The paper of Zora Žbontar deals with the attitudes towards foreigners in ancient Greece, where the hospitality to strangers was considered so worthy a virtue that everyone was expected to "demonstrate hospitality and protection to any foreigner who has knocked on their door". The contrast between the hospitality of ancient Greece and the modern emergence of xenophobia and ways of dealing with migration issues in economically developed countries is especially challenging. "In an open gesture of hospitality to strangers the ancient Greeks showed their civilization".Although the aforementioned research by the United Nations and Gallup Institute support some traditional stereotypes of the main global flows of migrants, and the areas about which the potential migrants "dream", Bojan Baskar stresses the coexistence of different migratory desires, migration flows and their interpretations. In his paper he specifically focuses on overcoming and relativising stereotypes as well as theories of immobile and non-enterprising (Alpine) mountain populations and migrations.The different strategies of the crossing borders adopted by migrant women are studied by Mirjana Morokvasic. She marks them as true social innovators, inventing different ways of transnational life resulting in a bottom-up contribution to the integrative processes across Europe. Some of their innovations go as far as to shift diverse real and symbolic boundaries of belonging to a nation, gender, profession.Elaine Burroughs and Zoë O'Reilly highlight the close relations between the otherwise well-established terminology used in statistics and science to label immigrants in Ireland and elsewhere in EU, and the negative representations of certain types of migrants in politics and the public. The discussion focusses particularly on asylum seekers and illegal immigrants who come from outside the EU. The use of language can quickly become a political means of exclusion, therefore the authors propose the development and use of more considerate and balanced migration terminology.Damir Josipovič proposes a change of the focal point for identifying and interpreting the well-studied migrations in the former Yugoslavia. The author suggests changing the dualistic view of these migrations to an integrated, holistic view. Instead of a simplified understanding of these migrations as either international or domestic, voluntary or forced, he proposes a concept of pseudo-voluntary migrations.Maja Korać-Sanderson's contribution highlights an interesting phenomenon in the shift in the traditional patterns of gender roles. The conclusions are derived from the study of the family life of Chinese traders in transitional Serbia. While many studies suggest that child care in recent decades in immigrant societies is generally performed by immigrants, her study reveals that in Serbia, the Chinese merchants entrust the care of their children mostly to local middle class women. The author finds this switch of roles in the "division of labour" in the child care favourable for both parties involved.Francesco Della Puppa focuses on a specific part of the mosaic of contemporary migrations in the Mediterranean: the Bangladeshi immigrant community in the highly industrialized North East of Italy. The results of his in-depth qualitative study reveal the factors that shape this segment of the Bangladeshi diaspora, the experiences of migrants and the effects of migration on their social and biographical trajectories.John A. Schembri and Maria Attard present a snippet of a more typical Mediterranean migration process - immigration to Malta. The authors highlight the reduction in migration between Malta and the United Kingdom, while there is an increase in immigration to Malta from the rest of Europe and sub-Saharan Africa. Amongst the various impacts of immigration to Malta the extraordinary concentration of immigrant populations is emphasized, since the population density of Malta far exceeds that of nearly all other European countries.Miha Kozorog studies the link between migration and constructing their places of their origin. On the basis of Ardener's theory the author expresses "remoteness" of the emigratory Slavia Friulana in terms of topology, in relation to other places, rather than in topography. "Remoteness" is formed in relation to the "outside world", to those who speak of "remote areas" from the privileged centres. The example of an artistic event, which organizers aim "to open a place like this to the outside world", "to encourage the production of more cosmopolitan place", shows only the temporary effect of such event on the reduction of the "remoteness".Jani Kozina presents a study of the basic temporal and spatial characteristics of migration "of people in creative occupations" in Slovenia. The definition of this specific segment of the population and approach to study its migrations are principally based on the work of Richard Florida. The author observes that people with creative occupations in Slovenia are very immobile and in this respect quite similar to other professional groups in Slovenia, but also to the people in creative professions in the Southern and Eastern Europe, which are considered to be among the least mobile in Europe. Detailed analyses show that the people in creative occupations from the more developed regions generally migrate more intensely and are also more willing to relocate.Mojca Pajnik and Veronika Bajt study the experiences of migrant women with the access to the labour market in Slovenia. Existing laws and policies push the migrants into a position where, if they want to get to work, have to accept less demanding work. In doing so, the migrant women are targets of stereotyped reactions and practices of discrimination on the basis of sex, age, attributed ethnic and religious affiliation, or some other circumstances, particularly the fact of being migrants. At the same time the latter results in the absence of any protection from the state.Migration studies often assume that the target countries are "modern" and countries of origin "traditional". Anıl Al- Rebholz argues that such a dichotomous conceptualization of modern and traditional further promotes stereotypical, essentialist and homogenizing images of Muslim women in the "western world". On the basis of biographical narratives of young Kurdish and Moroccan women as well as the relationships between mothers and daughters, the author illustrates a variety of strategies of empowerment of young women in the context of transnational migration.A specific face of migration is highlighted in the text of Svenka Savić, namely the face of artistic migration between Slovenia and Serbia after the Second World War. The author explains how more than thirty artists from Slovenia, with their pioneering work in three ensembles (opera, ballet and theatre), significantly contributed to the development of the performing arts in the Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad.We believe that in the present thematic issue we have succeeded in capturing an important part of the modern European research dynamic in the field of migration. In addition to well-known scholars in this field several young authors at the beginning their research careers have been shortlisted for the publication. We are glad of their success as it bodes a vibrancy of this research area in the future. At the same time, we were pleased to receive responses to the invitation from representatives of so many disciplines, and that the number of papers received significantly exceeded the maximum volume of the journal. Recognising and understanding of the many faces of migration are important steps towards the comprehensive knowledge needed to successfully meet the challenges of migration issues today and even more so in the future. It is therefore of utmost importance that researchers find ways of transferring their academic knowledge into practice – to all levels of education, the media, the wider public and, of course, the decision makers in local, national and international institutions. The call also applies to all authors in this issue of the journal.

Madagascar is one of the richest countries when it comes to natural and mineral resources. As is the case in many tropical countries, however, this wealth is bluntly coupled with an ever increasing poverty, where more than 92 % of the 21 million inhabitants are living below $US2 a day. Madagascar has received international aid and conservation interests for years, as part of which, millions of dollars have been donated to the country, but with very little to show for it (Horning 2008). When Madagascar appeared to hit rock bottom in 2009, a political coup d'état took place which led to the international donor community curtailing financial support (Randrianja 2012). During the following years, the transitional government did not receive the international support that the previous government had benefitted from. Here we will analyze the pattern of two cases of natural resource governance, both coinciding with a political event.Case 1 pertains to rosewood: Since 2009, illegal logging and exporting of rosewood has reached unprecedented levels in Madagascar (Schuurman and Lowry 2009, Innes 2010, Randriamalala and Liu 2010) affecting the entire east coast, with highest intensity of pillage in the national parks of Masoala and Marojejy. In 2011, reportedly over 500,000 tons of rosewood were in stocks; discussions among experts at the global table revolved around a solution finding to best deal with these stocks (Randriamalala et al. 2011). However, the issue then went mysteriously silent to a remarkable degree for almost two years. In the meantime, the African Union supported by the international community pushed the current government to organize presidential elections with a first round on 25 October 2013, and the second and final round scheduled for 20 December 2013. Coincidently, in mid 2013 the World Bank requested a "Study to Assess the Options of Disposal of the Illicit Stocks of Rosewood and Ebony"1 issued 31 July 2013 with a deadline for the expressions of interest fixed at 13 August 2013.During the last year, a new phenomenon has emerged: inventoried rosewood logs have slowly but regularly been ferreted out of the depots they were stored in. During the early months of 2013, traffickers from Maroantsetra visited the Masoala peninsula and generously offered 1 million MGA per household to turn a blind eye regarding any rosewood. Simultaneously, large vessels positioned just too far to be seen from any shore, were collecting logs transferred to them at night in smaller boats. Encouraged by the incredulous ineptitude on the part of the local legal authorities, this process has been ongoing, even during daylight hours, with the 'mother ships' eventually even clearly visible from the shores. The timber stocks in the known depots have almost been completely cleared out by now. At the end of September 2013 a petition was suddenly circulated by EIA (Environmental Investigation Agency) bearing the message "Urgent Sign - on To Stop Madagascar Illegal Sale of Massive Stockpiles of Rosewood and Ebony" that many people and international and national NGOs have signed2. Interestingly, the concerns revolved around the estimated value of stocks, whether they were worth US$5 billion or only US$600 million. The question which goes begging is, why is the World Bank suddenly trying to find a legal solution for the stocks, when they de facto have already been removed from Madagascar and transported to Asia? We propose the following hypotheses as some food for thought: (i) There is insufficient information to assess the quantity and value of the remaining stocks. If any stock does indeed remain, it does represent a threat to the natural resources, and in principle, conservation NGOs cannot support the legalizing of the sale of such stocks. This implies that in the past, the legalizing and therefore selling of timber held in stocks represented a threat to the remaining precious trees, i.e., it has led to further illegal logging (Randriamalala and Liu 2010). (ii) The stockpiled timber has already steadily and consistently been exported to China: the government, the conservation community, and the public are all cognizant of this. There is a complex financial arrangement proposed by the international funding agencies and promoters of democracy, to appease all the parties involved in the case of dealing in illegally-felled rosewood3.Hypothesis 1 appears naïve and almost unrealistic, given that the case is well known by all the parties involved. Hypothesis 2 requires a deeper understanding of the financial, legal, and institutional mechanisms involved, since international funding agencies and the World Bank are not allowed to support an illegitimate government (i.e., one which assumed power through a coup d'état). The question which remains alludes to a problem which may be described as "wicked", for lack of a better prescriptive (cf. Rittel and Webber 1973): how can someone make more money from a product which has already been sold?We will try to shed some light by performing a reductio ad absurdum, which entails a step - by - step hypothetical appeasing of every party or individual involved in the rosewood traf­ficking process. To begin with, we ask the question: where do the interests of the various actors, really lie? This may be answered as follows: (i) Some, such as international funding agencies and NGOs seek a 'green' image. (ii) Others wish to be seen as promoters of democracy (western countries). (iii) Some are in a position of being in dire need of funding: they include certain NGOs and the Malagasy government. (iv) Some are lenders of money: these are the funding agencies and foreign governments. (v) There are some seeking to launder money, i.e., timber sellers and buyers.To 'green - wash' the illegally - sourced logs, necessitates the issuance of a CITES permit, something which could be lobbied for by NGOs, who would then receive money from the funding agencies, officially to help them protect the wildlife. On the other hand, timber traders and buyers would thereby legalize their business, and push for the supporting of the required democratic process, i.e., the ongoing elections. Therefore, the value of the legalized stocks of wood would lie in its 'greening - up' of the buyers' profiles, and allow some of the laundered money to flow back to Madagascar so that 'business as usual' could continue.Let's take a step back though: Hypothesis 2 appears to be in the realms of the absurd. The World Bank and other international funding agencies should not take such a risk: despite their interests to support democracy, development and conservation, they should not get involved in the green - washing of illegal timber. Furthermore, international NGOs should never invest effort in lobbying for a CITES permit allowing for sale of illegally logged ebony and rosewood. NGOs are well aware of the risks involved in such a procedure, and legalizing illegally-traded logs could potentially once again open up the forests to further illegal tree felling and trafficking. Which takes us back to square one: the million dollar question that goes begging pertains to the true level of transparency when it comes to the intentions of all parties involved in this process.The second case is on a smaller scale, and concerns wetlands, which are among the most threatened ecosystems in Madagascar (Thieme et al. 2005, Rabearivony et al. 2010).Case 2: Alaotra marshlands, vanishing in a puff of smoke? The Lake Alaotra wetland constitutes the biggest wetland system in Madagascar and is of national importance for its fish and rice production. About 23,000 hectares of marshlands fringe the lake, delivering crucial ecosystem services (water, plant material, fish stock) while hosting unique wildlife such as Hapalemur alaotrensis, the only primate species living constantly in marshland, or the recently described carnivore Salanoia durrelli, also adapted to wetland. International conservation efforts have been ongoing since the 1990s to sustain this wetland biodiversity and ecosystem, leading to the inscription of the entire Alaotra wetland as the third Ramsar site in Madagascar in 2003. The government of Madagascar then acknowledged the system's biodiversity and conservation values by classifying the wetland as a New Protected Area within national law N°381-2007/ MINENVEF/MAEP on 17 January 2007. Though formally protected, there are increasing pressures on this wetland. The region is dominated by rice paddies, with all the terrain already claimed; the marshlands hence represent a future reservoir for rice production. The increasing scarcity in production capacity is further accentuated by changing hydrologic balance and leads to an underproduction of the existing rice fields. This forces resource users further into the remaining marshlands. For example, the number of rice fields within the lakefront (the so called riz de contre-saison) has increased significantly in the past years (Ratsimbazafy et al. In press). The same accounts for the number of fires. According to the same authors, the years 2000 and 2004 have been extreme fire years affecting more than 40% of the entire marshland area. In 2012, the number of fires from October to December exceeded 150 cases (ibid). The year 2013 appears set to break any previous records. According to MWC (Madagascar Wildlife Conservation) and DWCT (Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust), the marshes are being burnt at an unprecedented level with, for example, a few fires affecting several hundred hectares within a few days in October 2013 alone. The local management and monitoring entities such as VOI (Vondron'Olona Ifototra) and CFL (Comité Forestier Local) are hopelessly overwhelmed by the many fires, while national actors such as DWCT and MWC can only gather evidence to describe the breaches of the legal or regulatory framework that are being perpetrated. It is very interesting to note that marsh (and forest) fires have reached a peak during this electoral period, where some political actors have repeatedly been observed promising land in exchange for votes. Alaotra represents a case specifically where actors outside of the system, instigate local communities to burn marshland for the sake of rice production (Ratsimbazafy et al. In press). However it is difficult to judge clearly when the smoke is so heavy over the lake. As is the case with many other governments, the Malagasy government is faced with the challenge of balancing the interests of its citizens, which are often in stark contrast with those of players or parties within the international community. The value of Madagascar's resource richness is measured differently by the different stakeholders, and thus governance of these natural resources has become increasingly more complex, and promises to do so even more in the near future. What constitutes a serious hindrance in sound governance is the fact that many of the processes are difficult to trace and assess due to an evident lack of transparency as discussed in these two cases. To strengthen governance depends first and foremost on the political will of the hosting country to improve its governance system, and hence to accept monitors to maintain observation over its performance. This however, requires a marked stepping up of transparency and accountability. At present, the bleak and questionable scenario painted by the above two cases presented here, seem to imply that for the people of Madagascar, its rich biodiversity may be more of a curse than a blessing.

I sistemi bibliotecari delle università in Italia sono stati considerati a lungo inefficienti e dispersivi, con costi alti e risultati bassi. A partire dagli anni Settanta prima nel mondo professionale, poi sempre di più anche nelle autorità accademiche e negli studenti, è cresciuta l'insoddisfazione e quindi il tentativo di miglioramento e della razionalizzazione, anche in conseguenza della introduzione dei sistemi computerizzati nelle biblioteche.Il quadro dei servizi bibliotecari dell'Università di Pisa non si discosta molto dalla media italiana: il sistema delle biblioteche di ateneo si presenta con un grande patrimonio bibliografico, disperso su molte sedi e con servizi discontinui. Rispetto ad altri sistemi universitari le varianti più importanti riguardano la presenza, in pochi chilometri, di altre importanti biblioteche legate all'università e alla ricerca.Da alcuni anni sono state intraprese alcune trasformazioni dei servizi bibliotecari, dal punto di vista istituzionale, organizzativo, informatico. Nel 1987 fu attivata una Commissione di ateneo per le biblioteche, dai cui lavori uscirono alcune proposte di riorganizzazione, basate su un moderato accentramento e sull'introduzione di servizi di base più ampi e servizi innovativi, anche di tipo informatico, più qualificati. Con questa spinta fu varato un nuovo regolamento per le biblioteche e fu istituito un Servizio centrale per le biblioteche, assieme alla costituzione di otto biblioteche centri di servizi, finanziate anche dall'amministrazione centrale.All'inizio del 1999 l'Ateneo, rafforzando le linee di politica bibliotecaria seguite nel corso di dieci anni, ha deliberato un'ulteriore formalizzazione del sistema, basata su:a) modifica dello Statuto, che riconosce come parte del sistema bibliotecario solo le biblioteche organizzate come centri di servizi bibliotecari;b) delineazione delle aggregazioni per arrivare, entro il 1º settembre 2000, alla formazione di 15 biblioteche costituite come centri di servizi bibliotecari coordinate attraverso il Servizio per il sistema bibliotecario di ateneo;c) indicazione di linee guida con gli standard per i servizi bibliotecari e degli obiettivi di massima del sistema.L'indirizzo politico del sistema è dato dagli organi accademici, tramite la Commissione di ateneo per le biblioteche, formata da rappresentanti del Senato accademico e del Consiglio di amministrazione, e integrata da esperti.Il coordinamento tecnico è compito del Servizio per il sistema bibliotecario: il Servizio si occupa direttamente di cataloghi comuni, di proposte di formazione e seminari professionali, di standard, di statistiche e raccolta dati d'insieme, di informatizzazione e basi dati di ateneo, di progetti e obiettivi comuni al sistema, e fornisce il suo supporto alle biblioteche per tutti gli altri aspetti organizzativi e gestionali. Le singole biblioteche, che amministrativamente sono centri di spesa autonomi, hanno un consiglio direttivo, un presidente e un direttore operativo. Sul piano delle risorse umane è stata avviata una risistemazione della pianta organica delle biblioteche previste dal piano; alla base della pianta organica sono stati posti parametri indicativi del bacino di utenza e del carico di lavoro, cioè quattro dei sei utilizzati per l'assegnazione di fondi di ateneo.Sul piano delle risorse finanziarie alle biblioteche riconosciute come centri, oltre ai finanziamenti provenienti dalle facoltà e dai dipartimenti interessati, viene assegnata una quota stabilita sulla base di sei parametri indicativi del bacino di utenza (docenti, studenti), della spesa pro capite, cioè della spesa dei dipartimenti e facoltà in rapporto al loro bacino di utenza, del servizio erogato (ore settimanali di apertura), del carico di lavoro (abbonamenti in corso e nuove acquisizioni).L'ateneo ha stabilito una serie di obiettivi, privilegiando i servizi al pubblico; contestualmente sono state date le indicazioni di massima (linee guida per i servizi bibliotecari) sui compiti del sistema, sui criteri fondamentali, sugli standard dei servizi principali.Parallelamente è stata avviata una attività di formazione del personale, nel quadro della formazione di ateneo del personale tecnico-amministrativo. Nel 1998 si è svolta la prima serie di corsi finalizzati:a) al coinvolgimento di tutto il personale nella prospettiva "di sistema bibliotecario";b) all'orientamento del sistema verso i servizi e gli utenti, con l'obiettivo della qualità:c) al recupero di lacune da una parte e all'accrescimento di competenze professionali dall'altra.Tutti i corsi si sono conclusi con un test, che ha dato luogo a valutazione differenziata del risultato, e con la compilazione da parte dei formati di una scheda di valutazione sui contenuti e sulla qualità del corso seguitoSul versante informatico la situazione attuale è caratterizzata dalla compresenza di vari sistemi distribuiti su più data base, unificati come uscita Web in un metaopac con circa 300.000 registrazioni bibliografiche, che rappresentano il 25% del patrimonio bibliografico dell'ateneo, con punte dal 50% al 90% nelle biblioteche con informatizzazione più consolidata, nelle quali vengono utilizzate più ampiamente procedure informatiche diverse dalla catalogazione, come il prestito, la gestione dei periodici, la gestione degli ordini. A questa situazione si prevede di sostituire entro 12-18 mesi un sistema unico di ateneo, con architettura client/server, database relazionale e interfaccia grafica.Per quanto riguarda il database networking, è stato attivato un server ERL per alcune banche dati di carattere generale. In questo settore è stata attivata una interessante cooperazione con la Scuola normale superiore, la Scuola superiore S.Anna e l'area di ricerca del CNR. Con la Scuola normale e la Biblioteca universitaria è allo studio l'ipotesi di condividere banche dati gestite attraverso Ultranet. La crescita dei nuovi servizi di document delivery ha portato all'attivazione di Ariel nei centri di servizi bibliotecari.Il modello organizzativo che emerge è basato sull'accentramento di indirizzi, criteri, standard, valutazioni, statistiche, gestione informatica e gestione delle banche dati di ateneo, formazione, e sul decentramento nelle 15 biblioteche della gestione dei servizi e del personale.Il fulcro del sistema è rappresentato dalla misurazione dei risultati e dei servizi. È un modello non sacrifica astrattamente il funzionamento dei servizi e le specificità disciplinari, ma si radica nell'esperienza concreta e nella storia delle realtà bibliotecarie dell'ateneo, con l'obiettivo di riorganizzarle secondo la prospettiva del miglioramento della qualità e dell'orientamento all'utente-cliente. ; Italy's university library system has long been considered both inefficient and wasteful, with high costs and poor results. Since the 1970's there has been a growing dissatisfaction with the situation, firstly within the professional world and later increasingly within academic and student circles. As a result, many universities have attempted to both improve and rationalise library systems, thanks also in part to the introduction of computerised systems in libraries. The University of Pisa's library services differ little from those of the average Italian university. The university library system has considerable bibliographic resources, scattered among many centres, with uneven service levels. Compared with other university systems, the most important variable is the presence, within just a few kilometres, of other important libraries linked to the university and to research.The University of Pisa has modified the management and computerisation of its libraries to achieve a comprehensive network of services.Although the process of change, itself a result of a convergence of new policies and management, and professional culture, is still only in progress, it is, however, producing a promising series of results and prospects for the future.The university Committee for libraries, which was set up in 1987, has produced a number of proposals for reorganisation, based on a certain amount of centralisation and on the introduction of more widely based, and also more innovative and advanced computerised services. New rules for libraries, together with a centralised library service, were thus introduced.In early 1999, the university, building on the library policy which pursued in the preceding decade, considered a further development of the system based on:a) modification of the University Statute to recognise only those libraries organised in the central library service as part of the library system;b) a centralisation process to achieve, by September 2000, the establishment of 15 central library services for large subject areas, co-ordinated by the university's library system service;c) a set of guidelines with standards for the library services and the main objectives of the system.The system's policy direction is given by the academic bodies through the university Committee for libraries, which consists of representatives of the academic senate and of the administrative council, with additional input from specialists. Technical co-ordination is the task of the university library system service, which is directly responsible for shared cataloguing, proposals for professional training and seminars, standards and statistics and collection of data as a whole, and computerisation and university databases. It also assists the libraries on all other aspects of management and organisation. The individual libraries, which are financially independent, have a board, a president and a managing director. As regards human resources, a reorganisation of library staff has taken place following the planning of duties.As regards financial resources, all the libraries recognised as centres are financed by the interested faculty and departments, and receive additional University funding on the basis of 6 parameters: number of potential users (teaching staff; students); department/faculty funding per potential user; weekly opening hours; workload (current serials subscriptions; new acquisitions).The University has established a series of objectives considering firstly the public services, then the guidelines for library services, the system's tasks, the essential criteria and the standards for the principal services.Similarly, staff training has initiated courses that aim to involve all the staff in the library system's perspectives, to place the emphasis on services and users to attain the best quality, and to increase professional skills.As regards automation, there are at present various systems and many databases, merged in a Web metaOPAC of some 300.000 bibliographic records representing 25% of the University's collection. In the main libraries the coverage of online catalogues ranges from 50% to 90% and automated systems are in use also for loans, serials control and acquisitions. The University has planned a migration, within 12-18 months, to a single automated system, with client/server architecture and a graphic interface.As regards database networking, we have activated an ERL server with some general databases and also initiated an interesting co-operation programme with the Scuola Normale Superiore, the Scuola Superiore S. Anna and the National Research Council.As regards document delivery, the growth of demand led to the choice of the Ariel system for the central library services.The management model is based on:1) the centralisation of policies, standards, statistics and evaluation, system and database management and staff training;2) the devolution of the management of staff and services to the 15 libraries.Feedback comes from the evaluation of services and results. We can say that this model arises from the concrete experience and the past evolution of university libraries. The objective is to reorganise libraries, improving their quality and user orientation.

The theme set for this thesis is composed by several important phases which allow to clearly identifying the way this research has been done in order to achieve the objectives and purposes established. So, once the diagnosis is known, the problem identified is the lack of a management policy in line with Ministerial agreement N° 004-10 which promotes the implementation of kiosk at high schools under a process of a sanitarian and nutritional control of food. This problem has obviously affected on the academic performance of students at the Instituto Superior Guaranda. The Chapter 1, presents the concepts and definitions of terminology used through this research, as well as, the scientific information required to clarify and strengthen the variables that take part of the problem through of a hypothetic- deductive study. That is why, its order contains references relating to the management which is defined as the discipline that guides and integrates the processes of planning, attract, dynamize, organize human talent and manage resources always focusing on the project and the achievement of goals, within a deadline and taking into consideration defined costs. Also explains the monitoring phases of the management policy regarding the scientific criteria of illustrious researchers in the field, such as: Menguzzato, Anthony R., Amat J., M. Gonzalez, F. Taylor, H. Gantt, Gilbreth, F., Farol, H., M. Weber, among others, who think that the administrative process is the outcome achieved from the interaction of its elements such as: planning, organization, execution and control. Finally shows issues related to nutrition, feeding, sanitarian control and school performance among other aspects. The chapter II, presents the methodology and its different types of intellectual research like methods, techniques, processes and procedures used for the development of this scientific inquiry. Also shows the population of the institution used as the universe investigated and the application of research tools. From the problematic identified during the phase of diagnosis, strategies and actions has been set out in order to solve inconsistencies regarding the deficient infrastructure of kiosk, indifference of authorities, intellectual deficiency of students, wrong eating habits, lack of hygiene of the staff in charge of the service, inefficient administration, lack of nutritional studies, political intransigence towards the implementation of non- customary measures at kiosk, and lack of sanitarian and nutritional knowledge of people responsible for the sale of food. It also includes the recognition of the Ministerial Agreement 004 -10, and a variety of nutritional products with food and ancient meals that displays a list of nutrients and indicators of excess, which allows to show the methods of food preservation and the right products for consumption. The Chapter III, presents the analysis and interpretation of results, beginning by a survey focused on teachers from the high school. This process demonstrates that 100% of teachers agree that the products sold at the kiosk does not have labels of quality or sanitarian standards, therefore, a high number of students suffers from obesity, acne and fatigue. These factors have directly affected the students learning process and consequently their academic performance. Moreover, the survey shows that teachers from this high school are aware that the products sold in the kiosk don´t have nutritional compounds and also recognize that are harmful for the health of students. That´s the reason they strongly believe it is necessary to promote a massive campaign in order to change the eating habits of students, replacing organic food instead of junk foods, typical from the region, rich in vitamins and proteins and other substances which are important for an appropriate physical and mental development of students. Concerning the students surveyed, the results reveal that 100% of them know that the products they consume are not nutritious and that damage their health. Also express their disagreement regarding the kind of food sold at high school because they consider it, as one of the factors that could cause multiple health disorders due to the poor nutrition they receive. That´s why they think that the high school authorities must promote health and nutrition measures focused on the construction of a healthy feeding culture and on the intellectual growth of students whose results could be reflected in their scholar performance. On the other hand, it is regrettable to realize that the owners of the kiosk are totally unaware of the rules and policies of management, regulation, measurement and control of their activities. The lack of knowledge with regard to the administrative and management standards of hygiene, health and quality of food preparation and its subsequent organization for sale, once further evidences the need to organize courses, seminars and workshops to train students, kiosk administrators and authorities about the importance of a proper nutrition during the educational process. Meanwhile, the authorities from the Instituto Superior Guaranda agree that it is fundamental take appropriate action to reduce the risks caused by the kiosk in schools. Similarly, the need to eradicate the problem arose once again, through the direct intervention of all those involved in the educational community in order to improve the infrastructure, implement standards of hygiene and the selection of the right food that must be sold at high school. ; El tema expuesto para esta tesis está revestido de varias fases muy importantes que permiten identificar con claridad la manera como se ha realizado la investigación para el logro de los objetivos y propósitos descritos. Es así que una vez establecido el diagnóstico, el problema identificado es la inexistencia de una política de gestión conforme con el acuerdo Ministerial 004-10, el cual promueve la implementación de bares bajo un proceso de control sanitario-nutricional de los alimentos. Este problema ha afectado el rendimiento escolar de los alumnos y alumnas del Instituto Superior Guaranda. En el capítulo I partimos por conocer los conceptos y definiciones de la terminología usada en esta investigación; así como la información científica que se requiere para aclarar y fortalecer las variables que permitan efectuar un estudio intelectivo. Por consiguiente, en su orden consta referencias relacionadas la gerencia o administración definida como la disciplina que guía e integra los procesos de planificar, captar, dinamizar, organizar talentos y administrar recursos con el fin de desarrollar el proyecto y cumplir con los objetivos propuestos, dentro de un tiempo y costo establecidos. También, se puntualizan las fases de control de las políticas de gestión, tomando en cuenta los criterios efectivos de destacados investigadores del área, como: Menguzzato, A. (1998), Amat, J (2002), González, M., Taylor, F., Gantt, H., Gilbreth, F., Fayol, H., Weber M., entre otros; quienes aseguran que el proceso administrativo es el resultado de la interacción de sus elementos tales como: planeación, organización, ejecución y control; se hace mención a temas relacionados con la nutrición, alimentación, control sanitario y rendimiento escolar entre otros aspectos importantes. En el capítulo II, figura la Metodología con los diferentes tipos de investigación intelectiva, los métodos, técnicas, procesos y procedimientos utilizados en el desarrollo de la presente indagación científica. Se presenta la población universo de la institución indagada y la aplicación de los instrumentos de investigación utilizados. A partir de la problemática identificada durante la fase de diagnóstico, se plantean las estrategias y acciones a tomar que permitan dar solución a inconsistencias relacionadas a la deficiente infraestructura de los bares, indiferencia de autoridades, deficiencia intelectiva de estudiantes, malos hábitos alimenticios, falta de higiene del personal que brinda el servicio, exigua administración, inexistencia de estudios nutricionales, intransigencia ante las políticas de implementación de medidas no costumbristas en los bares y desconocimiento de medidas sanitarias y nutricionales por parte de los responsables de la venta de alimentos. Nos muestra también el reconocimiento del Acuerdo Ministerial 004-10, e incluye una variedad de productos nutricionales con alimentos y comidas ancestrales mostrando una lista de nutrientes e indicadores de exceso, lo que permite exponer los métodos de conservación de alimentos y los productos adecuados para el consumo. En el capítulo III, se realiza el análisis e interpretación de resultados, iniciando con una encuesta enfocada en los maestros del establecimiento educativo. Este proceso nos demuestra que el 100% de los profesores está de acuerdo en que los productos vendidos en el bar no poseen sellos de calidad, ni mucho menos estándares de salubridad; por lo tanto, un alto número de estudiantes sufre de obesidad, acné y fatiga. Estos factores han afectado directamente el proceso de aprendizaje de los estudiantes y consecuentemente su rendimiento académico. Por otra parte, la encuesta realizada demuestra que los maestros de esta institución educativa conocen perfectamente que los productos que se venden en el bar no tienen compuestos nutritivos y que son dañinos para la salud de los estudiantes; por lo tanto manifiestan que es necesario promover una campaña masiva en los planteles educativos con el fin de cambiar los hábitos alimenticios de los estudiantes, reemplazando la comida chatarra por alimentos de origen orgánico, autóctonos de la zona, ricos en vitaminas y proteínas y otras sustancias indispensables para el adecuado desarrollo físico y mental de los estudiantes. Con respecto a los estudiantes encuestados, los resultados obtenidos revelan que el 100% de ellos conocen la situación de insalubridad que caracteriza a los espacios de expendio de los alimentos, señala -que conocen- que los productos que consumen no son nutritivos y que deterioran su salud, además su inconformidad con respecto a los productos que se venden ya que consideran que es uno de los factores que puede ocasionar múltiples trastornos en su salud, debido a la deficiente alimentación que reciben. Consideran necesario que las autoridades de la institución educativa promuevan normas sanitarias y de nutrición encaminadas al desarrollo de una cultura sana de alimentación y al crecimiento intelectual de los estudiantes, cuyos resultados se vean reflejados en el rendimiento escolar. Por su parte, es lamentable manifestar que los administradores de los bares desconocen totalmente las normas y políticas de gestión, regulación, medición y control de sus actividades. El desconocimiento de los elementos del proceso administrativo, así como del manejo de estándares de salubridad, higiene y calidad en la preparación de alimentos y su posterior organización para la venta, evidencia una vez más la necesidad de organizar cursos, seminarios y talleres que permitan capacitar a los estudiantes, administradores de bares y autoridades acerca de la importancia de un adecuada nutrición durante el proceso educativo. De igual manera, las autoridades del Insttituto Superior Guaranda, coinciden en que es fudamental tomar las acciones pertinentes que ayuden a reducir los riesgos desencadenados por las falencias de los bares de los colegios. De igual manera, manifiestan la necesidad de erradicar el problema, a través de la intervención directa de todos quienes forman parte de la comunidad educativa con el propósito de mejorar la infraestructura, implementar estandares de higiene y una adecuada selección de los alimentos que deben ser expendidos por los administradores de los bares.

Questo itinerario di ricerca intende ripercorrere l'esperienza umana e intellettuale di Zygmunt Bauman, soffermandosi sugli aspetti biografici e sulla produzione scientifica dell'autore, sugli snodi dell'evoluzione del suo pensiero, per oltrepassarli e raggiungere alcuni contesti specifici di indagine circa l'identità che l'uomo contemporaneo viene rivestendo all'interno della società che Bauman, metaforicamente, definisce liquida. L'attenzione è inizialmente rivolta alla biografia dello studioso polacco, per andare a tracciare, attraverso essa, l'evoluzione del pensiero dell'autore che, sempre in dialogo con i cambiamenti negli assetti storici, sociali e culturali, restituisce una produzione scientifica ricca, analitica e propositiva al tempo stesso. La formazione di Bauman, in gioventù marcatamente marxista, risulta così ben presto influenzata prima dallo stretto rapporto con i suoi primi due maestri, Stanislaw Ossowsky e Julian Hochfeld, che gli forniscono le lenti più adatte per avere una visione chiara delle vicende storiche di cui è protagonista, e, in seguito, dall'incontro con letture illuminanti quali i Quaderni dal carcere di Gramsci, che gli fanno da utile guida nell'interpretazione dell'evoluzione della società con l'avvento dell'industria, per poi approdare alla condivisione dell'invito rivolto da Lévinas a riconoscere l'"essere con gli altri" come fondamentale e irrinunciabile attributo dell'esistenza umana, a ritenerci cioè tutti responsabili di fronte all'Altro ed alla sua incessante richiesta di giustizia, agendo così come unico antidoto efficace contro l'imperante indifferenza dell'uno verso le sorti dell'Altro. Il presente lavoro cerca inoltre di cogliere in pieno il senso di quanto lo stesso Bauman ci sintetizza tra le pagine di Intervista sull'identità , ossia che la forma assunta dal "marxismo intellettuale" che è dilagato nei centri accademici europei e americani alla fine degli anni Settanta, è stata interamente economicista e nella maggior parte dei casi severamente riduzionista. Negli anni Settanta, dice infatti Bauman, la politica, l'ideologia e la cittadinanza sono state rimosse o viste come effetti del motore primario dello sviluppo e del crollo capitalistico. Secondo lo studioso non doveva essere così: Marx, come egli ci dimostra in quello appena citato e in numerosi altri testi, dopo tutto, era stato inizialmente egli stesso un liberale, che, dall'enfasi sulla povertà e sulla figura collegata del cittadino era passato, solo alla fine, al più forte concetto dello sfruttamento, in cui la silhouette implicitamente virile del proletario si sostituisce a quella del cittadino. Forse, egli pensa, non era inevitabile che la teoria marxista in fase di ascesa venisse ridotta al nocciolo duro del determinismo economico, ma questo fu nella sua epoca, per così dire, "sovradeterminato". Questa versione tronca, riduzionista e unidimensionale dell'eredità di Marx fornita da una lettura onnicomprensiva e unifattoriale di tutte le sofferenze, le ansie e i disagi, così come nessun altro modello unifattoriale, non avrà mai, secondo Bauman, molte probabilità di esprimere adeguatamente la complessità del "mondo vissuto" e di abbracciare la totalità dell'esperienza umana. Partendo da queste riflessioni, la ricostruzione relativa all'evoluzione del pensiero di Bauman qui proposta continua con l'analisi della posizione assunta dallo studioso quando, ad allungare ulteriormente le distanze da quella visione, intervengono i rapidi cambiamenti dell'era Reagan-Thatcher che hanno condotto al collasso l'immaginazione "collettiva" nelle società occidentali a partire dagli anni Ottanta. Come osserva, d'altro canto, anche Alessandro Dal Lago, per Bauman, più ancora che dai loro risultati discutibili in termini strettamente economici, i primi governi Reagan e Thatcher possono essere definiti dalla capacità di aver delegittimato qualsiasi strategia di governo collettivo (o praticata in nome di interessi collettivi) dei processi economici. Prima ancora che il crollo del muro di Berlino rendesse impronunciabile nel suo senso originale la parola socialismo, la rivoluzione liberista degli anni Ottanta ha fatto fondamentalmente del "mercato" il suo orizzonte cognitivo del mondo occidentale. La celebre affermazione di Margaret Thatcher, secondo cui "non esiste una cosa come la società" sottolineava appunto l'illegittimità di ogni principio che contrastasse (anche in termini di controllo o di regolazione) la libertà di impresa in senso lato . Rivisitare la bibliografia di quegli anni di Bauman ci permette, così, di ritrovarvi una chiara denuncia, non priva di una lucida critica, degli effetti della deregolamentazione, dell'outsourcing, della sussudiarietà, del disimpegno manageriale, della graduale eliminazione delle fabbriche fordiste a vantaggio della nuova flessibilità dei modelli di assunzione e delle procedure lavorative, che hanno determinato il lento ma inesorabile smantellamento degli strumenti di protezione e autodifesa del lavoro, nonché l'annullamento dell'aspettativa di una riorganizzazione dell'ordine sociale sotto la guida del proletariato. Bauman si preoccupa, altresì, di interpretare i risultati dell'annientamento della rete di protezione sociale costruita faticosamente nel corso del XX secolo, reputata, in un secondo momento, non solo troppo costosa e contraria allo spirito del mercato, ma moralmente illegittima, annientamento che ha determinato l'abbandono del patto che aveva consentito lo sviluppo sociale delle democrazie post-belliche (in un sistema che garantiva la sicurezza sociale, in cui i sindacati cooperavano alla gestione dello stato sociale, e le espressioni partitiche del movimento operaio e dei ceti medi si alternavano pacificamente o collaboravano nella guida della società politica), ed il contemporaneo affermarsi del modello culturale in cui la competizione si sostituisce alla mediazione. In questo contesto è andata via via emergendo una realtà in cui, nello sforzo quotidiano per restare a galla, non c'è spazio né tempo per la visione di una "buona società": ogni categoria svantaggiata, dice Bauman, deve cavarsela da sola, abbandonata alle proprie risorse e al proprio ingegno, mentre lo scontento sociale si è disperso in un numero infinito di rimostranze di gruppo o di categoria, ognuna alla ricerca di un proprio ancoraggio sociale. Risulta perciò necessario, a questo punto, richiamarsi alla presa di posizione di un Bauman secondo il quale non si è ancora registrata alcuna valida presa di posizione nei confronti degli aspetti economici e delle radici della miseria umana, contro le flagranti e sempre maggiori discrepanze nelle condizioni, possibilità e prospettive umane, per far fronte efficacemente alla povertà crescente e allo sgretolamento delle condizioni di vita. Attraverso un approfondimento su alcune tra le pagine dei testi più famosi di Bauman è inoltre possibile rilevare anche che, se il welfare state ha perso completamente il suo ruolo di assicurazione collettiva contro le disgrazie individuali, ciò è avvenuto principalmente per due ordini di motivi: per prima cosa, il principio di assicurazione collettiva come diritto universale del cittadino è stato sostituito, tramite il metodo del means testing, ossia l'accertamento delle fonti di reddito, dalla promessa di assistenza diretta solamente a quelle persone che non superavano l'esame della disponibilità di risorse ed autosufficienza, e quindi, implicitamente, l'esame di cittadinanza e "piena umanità". La dipendenza dalle convenzioni statali ha così smesso di essere un diritto del cittadino, diventando un marchio che le persone con rispetto di sé fuggono come la peste. In secondo luogo, poi, in omaggio alla regola che le prestazioni per i poveri sono prestazioni povere, i servizi di assistenza sociale hanno anche perso gran parte della loro attrattiva di un tempo . E tutto ciò oggi accade, secondo Bauman, perché la tarda modernità o post-modernità non pone solo problemi di aggiustamento globale, ma ha messo in moto processi culturali profondi che stanno modificando la stessa natura del legame sociale moderno: problemi politici radicali che sarebbe miope affrontare nei termini di un'utopistica saggezza sistemica. In sintesi, per Bauman, la società globalizzata è una formidabile macchina produttrice di circolazione di cose e persone e, al tempo stesso, di estraneità. La società osservata dallo studioso polacco negli anni Novanta ci risulta, tuttavia, non soltanto individualizzata, perché la nuova creatività esclude tendenzialmente la presenza di reti consolidate e di legami professionali (per non parlare di rappresentanze sociali e politiche stabili), ma diventa fondamentalmente precaria. Attraverso le analisi di Bauman sul soggetto occidentale impariamo così a conoscere non solo un lavoratore incerto, ma soprattutto un consumatore esposto alla straordinaria mutevolezza e innovazione dei beni, materiali o immateriali, in cui si direbbe che l'economia di mercato recuperi incessantemente, trasformandole in merci, anche le istanze di "liberazione". Bauman ne è convinto: questo soggetto ha bisogno di nuove forme di "calore", di qualche forma di radicamento in un mondo che per definizione ha assunto contorni sempre più sfuggenti. Ed è proprio nella dimensione delle nuove forme di comunità (e delle ostilità che esse producono) che si situa per Bauman il problema politico della condizione post-moderna, chiamata a fare i conti, lo vedremo, con un uno Stato che perde sempre più potere, a tutto vantaggio di un capitalismo manageriale post-fordista, sempre meno produttivista e sempre più azionario. Soprattutto la lettura delle sue opere più recenti permette di confermare che per Bauman è ormai chiaro che nessuno di noi ha una reale libertà di scelta e di intervento davanti ai processi dell'economia globale, mentre dall'altra parte non c'è forza politica consistente che si ponga, almeno nelle nostre società, l'obiettivo di contrastare una tendenza che viene proclamata universalmente come destino. Insieme alla scomparsa di una dimensione politica che non si limiti alle logiche e ai riti elettorali, ciò fa sì che l'attore contemporaneo sia assolutamente inerme di fronte agli effetti della globalizzazione nella sua esistenza. Né può essere determinante, sostiene Bauman, l'apporto di carte internazionali dei diritti umani conquistate con la lotta e le rivendicazioni: la loro proclamazione, dice lo studioso, è stata e sarà sempre il risultato di battaglie di ricognizione ingaggiate da categorie sempre diverse di soggetti per il mero riconoscimento di sempre nuove istanze, il risultato di dinamiche, cioè, che nulla hanno a che vedere con l'insegnamento di Lévinas, vale a dire con l'esigenza di tornare ad appropriarci dei necessari sentimenti di solidarietà e di responsabilità verso l'Altro a cui dare giustizia, anche attraverso una piena e vera attuazione agli enunciati contenuti in quelle carte. Questo lavoro si sofferma, infine, sul Bauman più vicino ai giorni nostri, secondo il quale, per uscire dalla condizione di stallo in cui attualmente viviamo, è urgente passare dalla politica del diritto al riconoscimento a quella del diritto alla ridistribuzione, mettendo i diritti umani al servizio di quella "buona società" chiamata a dare a tutti una possibilità per annientare gli ostacoli che li separano dal raggiungimento della giustizia sociale e che si frappongono, cioè, a un'equa distribuzione delle possibilità, grazie all'articolazione, espressione e perseguimento di tutte le varie domande di riconoscimento. L'opera di ricostruzione proposta si chiude rifacendosi alla ricetta proposta da Bauman per ottenere tutto quanto appena richiamato: per raggiungere un'integrazione a livello di "umanità", includendo tutti i popoli del pianeta, occorre, propone lo studioso, un "Pianeta Sociale", l'unico capace di recuperare quelle funzioni che, non molto tempo fa, lo Stato cercava di svolgere, con fortune alterne perché le organizzazioni e associazioni extra-territoriali, cosmopolite e non-governative che ne farebbero parte sarebbero le uniche organizzazioni sociali in grado di raggiungere in maniera diretta chi si trova in una condizione di bisogno, sorvolando le competenze dei governi locali e sovrani e impedendogli di interferire. Solo così, dice Bauman, si potrà affermare il primato dell'uomo in una dimensione sociale in cui assicurare una giustizia oltre la legalità di respiro universale.