88,750 research outputs found
Applicabilità di sistemi per il controllo naturale dei fattori ambientali nella riqualificazione edilizia
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Invecchiamento della popolazione e cure formali e informali: il gradiente Nord-Sud Europa
No full textOver the past few decades in Europe, and particularly in Italy, progressive ageing of the population has been recorded. This is due to two parallel phenomena: an increase in life expectancy and a declining birth rate. The growing need of elderly care has been faced by European countries with different strategies that follow a North-South gradient and stem from social, cultural, religious and institutional factors (Esping Anderson, 1990, Bettio and Plantenga 2004, Reher, 1998; EOP, 2010).
In particular European countries from the Mediterranean basin, including Italy, rely on “family centred” models of welfare, where historically the family has shouldered the burden of looking after its older parents, both financially and in terms of assistance. Similarly, it is still the family that supports the new generations facing the lack of job opportunities, even if these generations have already left the family nucleus, in a reciprocal pact that reflects the structural absence of institutional answers (Billari, 2004). In northern Europe prevails a “non family centred” model: here, for the past few decades, elderly care has been managed through reforms that involve institutions taking charge of those who are not self-sufficient. The need of care is satisfied by the public sector, mainly through the supply of formal services (care provided to the elderly by paid and qualified personnel) and, residually, through the financial support of activities by informal caregivers (care provided for free by relatives, neighbours, friends). There is a North-South gradient across Europe in the distribution of formal/informal care for the elderly population: in northern Europe, the elderly over 80 who are not self-sufficient receive formal assistance in 82% of the cases; whereas the figure drops to 28% when one takes southern European countries into consideration. Vice-versa, nine elderly people out of ten receive informal care in Mediterranean countries and the said figure drops lower and lower the more one moves northwards in Europe (see Figure 2).
In the majority of cases, the family member who cares for the elderly is female since women are regarded as better suited to taking on home and family responsibilities. Moreover, amongst women, daughters are those who are most represented in the role of caregiver to parents over 80. And hence the term “sandwich generation” describing a generation of adults, and of women in particular, who are engaged on two fronts as caregivers for their elderly parents and for their children or grandchildren who are still not self-sufficient. Providing continuing care to one’s elderly parents may involve sacrifices in one’s career or leisure time, leading to risks of isolation or burnout suffered by the habitual caregiver. Particularly in the absence of a Long Term Care (LTC) network of services that might provide the caregiver with some support in the difficult assistance task. These are the results of a research conducted by Brenna and Di Novi (2015) on SHARE data. The study shows that caregiver daughters living in European Mediterranean countries, including Italy, have a 10% greater probability of suffering from mental disorders compared to their peers who do not provide care to their elderly parents. The figure increases when the care is of a particularly intensive nature (helping the elderly with their personal care, dressing and feeding them) and/or when the number of hours dedicated to care-giving increases on a weekly basis. Results are not significant for caregivers living in northern or central European countries, most probably as these countries rely on models of formal care supporting caregivers in their tasks. Indeed, while northern countries are characterised by generous and universal LTC systems, the percentage of resources addressed to LTC in southern European countries is on average very low. As a result, a woman living in northern Europe can freely choose to provide care to her parents more out of personal affection rather than actual necessity, as she is aware of the existence of an institutional support network. Whereas in Mediterranean countries there is no choice and hence a higher risk of isolation. Policies providing support to the caregiver, such as for example the possibility of receiving retribution for the time dedicated to one’s parents, or the establishment of “information desks” addressing the application for care of the elderly who are not self-sufficient, or even the activation of “respite care” offering a period of respite to the habitual caregiver who will temporarily be substituted by qualified personnel, should also be established in Italy in order to lessen the burden that family members taking care of an elderly relative are subjected to
Modena, Parco Novi Sad: le iscrizioni
No full textEdizione delle iscrizioni romane rinvenute (integre e in frammenti) in occasione degli scavi nell'area archeologica denominata Novi Sad a Modena all'interno del volume che pubblica integralmente gli scav
Occupational Hazards of Hospital Personnel: Assessment ofa Safe Alternative to Formaldehyde
No full textObjectives: Formaldehyde - a chemical widely used to preserve organic tissues in hospitals - is known to be carcinogenic in the long term and to cause breathing-related symptoms in the short term. We have taken advantage of an experiment to quantify this second effect among hospital workers in terms of probability of showing respiratory symptoms with respect to a benchmark in which tissues are preserved using a procedure with arguably no impact, i.e., under-vacuum sealing. Methods: This paper exploits an experimental situation with controls for potential confounding effects to estimate a logistic regression of the probability that formalin (a solution of formaldehyde and water) causes respiratory symptoms. Results: The probability for formalin users was found to be eight to ten times higher than for personnel testing under-vacuum sealing. Conclusions: The substitution of formaldehyde with under-vacuum sealing would markedly improve the health of personnel. © Japan Society for Occupational Health
Numerical and experimental analysis of variable displacement vane pumps
No full textVariable displacement vane pumps represent one of the most innovative type of pump for automotive engines. The vane pump with a sliding ring, is a mechanism that makes it possible to change the capacity of the pump as a function of the engine speed, allowing to optimize of
the oil flow, according to the engine demand, with considerable power saving. The main components of a variable displacement vane pumps are: vanes, rotor, inner rings and a sliding
ring. During operation, the vanes are in contact with the inner surface of the outer (sliding) ring due to the effect of centrifugal loads; in addition high slip velocities occur in the contact area; as a consequence, a critical aspect of this kind of pumps is represented by the wear which takes place on the contact surfaces. Another potential mechanism of damaging process is attributed to vanes sticking in rotor cavities, causing a sudden increase in contact loads. This paper illustrates
a summary of a research activity, which was carried out with the aim of analyzing the operating conditions of vanes pumps. The study was conducted with reference to pumps with vanes number ranging from 5 to 9, in order to evidence the influence of some design parameters on
results. The numerical analysis were carried out by using multi-body models, that were developed with MSC.Adams® code. In these analyses any effect of the viscous oil inside the
pump was neglected, focusing the attention on mechanisms geometry; moreover, the hypothesis of plane analysis was assumed. Some experimental tests were also carried out with a prototype,
which was tested up to very hard conditions in order to highlight wear and damage mechanisms
Technology applications in shoulder replacement
No full textThe advancement of technologies in orthopaedic surgery should provide the surgeon with precise and trustworthy support for pre-operative planning, intra-operative guidance and post-operative follow-up. The request for greater accuracy, predictable results and fewer complications, is the engine of digital evolution in pre-operative planning and computer-assisted surgery (CAS). It is an evolution rather than a revolution, and in the last few years these developments have begun to involve shoulder replacement surgery, too
Commento all'art. 46
No full textIl commento riguarda l'art. 46 della Carta dei diritti fondamentali dell'Unione europea, relativo alla tutela diplomatica e consolare. L'art. 46 chiude il titolo V della Carta dedicato alla cittadinanza, conferendo a quest'ultima una dimensione esterna il cui duplice scopo è consolidare ulteriormente la solidarietà tra i popoli europei e rafforzare l'identità dell'Unione nella percezione degli Stati terzi. Caratteristica di questa forma di tutela è il fatto di non essere affidata all'Unione, bensì direttamente agli Stati membri, a cui viene chiesto di estendere le attività normalmente svolte dalle loro rappresentanze diplomatiche e consolari nei Paesi terzi per i propri cittadini anche ai cittadini di altri Stati membri che ne facciano richiesta e che non abbiano una loro rappresentanza in loco. In questo modo si è dato vita a una forma particolare di tutela delegata disciplinata dalla Convenzione di Vienna sulle relazioni diplomatiche del 1961 e dalla Convenzione di Vienna sulle relazioni consolari del 1963
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