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Copyright of Form@re is the property of Firenze University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Enthymema is the property of Enthymema, International Journal of Literary Criticism, Literary Theory & Philosophy of Literature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of TECHNE: Journal of Technology for Architecture & Environment is the property of Firenze University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of TECHNE: Journal of Technology for Architecture & Environment is the property of Firenze University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The paper highlights the dynamics related to the problem of the integration of immigrants in Europe, focusing on the spread of prejudices and on the multiple conditions of exclusion. The main aim refers to the effectiveness of integration policies implemented in Europe. For this purpose, data from different sources are analysed to measure the degree of hostility versus tolerance towards foreign immigrants, both through official data and with the analysis of online comments published on Twitter during the period of European elections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Opinião Jurídica is the property of Revista Opiniao Juridica and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Form@re is the property of Firenze University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Altreitalie is the property of Centro Altreitalie and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

FunDivEUROPE is a new project aiming at a deeper understanding of the role of forest diversity on ecosystem functions and service provisioning for society. This project combines three scientific platforms: experimental, exploratory and inventory. The exploratory platform is based on the observation of a broad range of properties, traits and ecological processes on a network of ca. 240 natural forest sites representing a gradient of tree species diversity in six focal regions of Europe (Spain, Italy, Germany, Poland, Finland and Romania). The Italian sites are located on the hills of central and Southern Tuscany and represent the category "thermophilous deciduous forest". Almost one year of fieldwork was needed to select and characterize 36 plots measuring 30 × 30 m. Selection was based on criteria concerning tree mixtures and richness, structural parameters and main environmental variables. The main features of these sites are synthetically presented in this paper together with a short description of the project structure and scope. The aim is also to enhance dissemination of the potential implications for a sustainable forest management in Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The regions as the substatal institutions in-between State and iocal governments have developped a leading role in the process of the Europea integration. Empirical evidences of the activism of the regions are also the increase of the regional policies of the European Union, the develop of the regional paradiplomacy, the proliferation of the regional entities with a strong European identity. The phase of the main develop and the more optimistic predictions the Ninenties is that of the Europe of the Regions perspective or that of the Third Level for a possible federalist model. In particolar, the policy of the political, economical and social cohesion of the European institutions for the overcoming of the territorial inequalities could favourite the active role of the Regions. If in the past the scholars frequently used the intergovernative model to the definition of the European network, now the multi-level-governance model is preferred. It stresses the regions position in the relations between the EU power levels, institutional or not. The paper aims to explore the theory that the weakening of the states owes the globalization and it could provoke the strenghtening of the role of the regions as guarantees od the citizen participation in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to show the main four paradigms of analysis on Europe and its identity elaborated in the last two centuries by the social sciences. For the scholars who proposed them Europe is an indistinct entità for its cultural, political, economical and/or religious characters, especially if it is compared to other cultures. However, one of thes eparadigms, the one based on ethicity and nation, the common and primordial characters are found only in the distinct European ethicities, so that an unitarian demos misses. The second paradigm, the constructivistic one, stresses the definition of the European nations by the elites through a process that could be applied also for the European nation or for the post-national constellation following Habermas. The paradigm of the cultural identity, then, proposes to analyse the foundation of Europe through its history, literature or arts, and the paradigm of the cosmopolitism focuses on the process of construction of a "cosmopolitical" citizenship in a world level, based on human rights: the attention in on the role of Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with the theme of university evaluation in the light of institutional changes that European academies are presently facing. Some key factors of those changes as well as critical elements concerning them that are to be found in literature are discussed. In the paper, a distinction is made between macro, meso and micro levels at which changes are taking place. As to the macro level, the role of the European research and higher education policies is taken into account with a particular emphasis on the Open Method of Coordination. At the meso level, the main directives of National policies carried out in the different European member States are presented and discussed particularly by referring to accountability and autonomy. Whereas what is here defined micro level is dealt with by briefly discussing the links between the diffusion of new public management, university governance and evaluation. Following such premises, some proposals are made as to the ambits and modes of university evaluation that do not appear sufficiently developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of agro-energy chains, in particular vegetable oil production, can represent, in Italy, an opportunity for the achievement of policy's objectives set by the European Union and for the agricultural sector. The aim of this study is to verify the existence of the "vegetable oil chain" at national and regional level, taking into account the Marche Region scenario (centre of Italy), the number of plants and their connection with the agricultural sector. From the methodological point of view, the paper evaluates trough a cost benefit analysis the economic performance of a vegetable oil plant, considering how the policies and the prices of raw materials affect it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the rapid spread of urban mega-projects on aban- doned industrial sites of European and American cities. These projects are gen- erally developed within the context of public-private partnerships, are frequendy mixed-use and cater to the needs of office-based businesses and tourism and leisure services. The introduction of new methods of financing, with the increas- ingly integration of real-estate sector into the new networks of global capitalism, is an important distinctive element, as also the incorporation of the designs of world-famous architects. This trend has been the result of changes occurred in the economy of advanced capitalist countries as well as of the imposing of the urban redevelopment as a key issue in the political agenda. The paper argues that the property-led urban regeneration and mega-projects don't necessarily contribute to make the city more affordable, efficient and inclusive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, in many of the European countries, welfare state has undergone a deep reform process. If during the modernity it was devoted to allocate monetary funds for passive protection (passive welfare state), now it promotes the development of both personalized services and individual resources to enable individual to face risks of exclusion, unemployment, poverty, illness, etc. by himself (active welfare state). The aim of this paper is to investigate the pillars of this new approach, starting from the analysis of activation policies and the consequences that these policies produce upon life chances of the subject in need. Particularly this paper tries to investigate the role that, among activation policies, education and training play in life-long learning perspective. Education, training and generally each form of learning are considered as grant for employability, empowerment and activation of subjects, and thus as a form of social protection. The aim of this paper is to point out both the ambivalence of this approach and the importance of consider as purpose to widen its aim from employability bat capability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the European Commission Communication Rethinking Education: Investing in skills for better socio-economic outcomes (November 2012). The comments concern the school educational tasks and, in particular, the young-adult "identity" required to face multiple challenges of current global crisis. In an educational perspective, it require a "re-thinking" of education, maintaining a meaning horizon dedicated to the promotion of a "genuine" quality of life, and an anthropological project that cannot be sacrificed in the name of the contingent political and economic pressures. In a lifelong education view, this article considers the relationship between education/adult education and the meaning of adult identity, to improve the human "desirable" ideals vs than what is too often presented as "necessary evil". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista de Relaciones Internacionales, Estrategia y Seguridad is the property of Revista de Relaciones Internacionales, Estrategia y Seguridad and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

One way for debating about the European cultures is the analysis of the market of the cultural products. Among them, one of the most interesting points of view is that of the film market. Obviously, it is not easy to develop a debate on the "European cinema". More than an half of the European films is an American production. The rest of the films is produced in the national borders. However, there is an interesting number of films produced in Europe that are viewed in other countries. About their stories, the theme of the memory is one of the most frequent in the last years. It is not only the individual memory, but, above all, the collective one. It is not in the sense of an attention for the problems of the disorientation or of the loss of the memory that modernization and de-traditionalization provoke, but in the sense of an attention for the removal process. They present this question in an autocritical point of view. They present stories also about the worrying past. After a recognition of the most famous European films of the last years, the paper stresses some of these films (produced in East and West European countries) and how they promote and present the autocritical memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The revival of ethnic/regional/language minorities within European national states, one of the components of the oppositional ‘identity movements’ of the sixties and seventies, has attracted wide attention from several disciplinary quarters: political science ( e.g. A. Smith,) sociology (A. Touraine), sociology of language (J. Fishman) and others. More recently, it has been linked to the theory of globalization (‘glocalism’). In Italy, for a number of reasons, regional/ethnic issues have long been neglected by ‘mainstream’ sociology, and considered only as a peculiarity of some remote Alpine border areas. However, in 1999, a national bill (n. 482) was passed in the national parliament, recognizing the existence throughout Italy of 12 ‘historical language minorities’ (Albanians, Catalans, Croats, Greeks, Occitans, Franco-Provencals, and others) beside the ones already constitutionally recognized (French, Germans, Slovenes) and granting them some rights, guarantees, and token financial support. By far the largest groups are the Sardinians ( pop. 1.650. and the Friulians (pop. 900.000). After a general-theoretical introduction, the paper briefly sketches the history of ethnic/regional/linguistic/ minority movements in Italy, the history and structure of Law 482/99, and finally focuses on the case of Friuli, where since the early seventies a tradition of sociological studies on these matters have been established, and many empirical surveys have been carried out, making this by far the best researched language minority in Italy. In the conclusion, the results of such research are put in the context of the ‘reversing language shift’ theory advanced by Joshua Fishman, and questions are raised on the possibility to save Friulian, as many hundreds or perhaps thousands other threatened minor languages, by legal decrees, in the face of the powerful socio-economic and cultural forces (nationalisation, globalization ‘homologation’) pushing them toward extinction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the sharp increase in migration flows, the issue of immigrants' religious assimilation and its impact on integration and discrimination has become a hot topic. This article refers to the debate between assimilation and reaction theories in order to shed light on the effects of both the destination context and the passage of time on immigrants' religiosity. Using the nine waves of European Social Survey data, I show that non-Muslim migrants display tendencies towards assimilation, with second generations being more similar to the native population than to the first generations in terms of levels of religiosity. Conversely, Muslim migrants are seen to resist more to assimilation pressures, thus reinforcing a reading based more on ethnic reactions. In addition to this, the data clearly show that there is a specific sector of the migrant population - younger second-generation Muslims - who feel a greater sense of discrimination because of their religion compared to both people from different religions and to their first-generation parents. This makes them a very relevant group to study because of the effects of this discrimination on socioeconomic and educational integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Rivista di Studi Politici Internazionali is the property of Edizioni Studium S.r.l and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Europe is a secularised society as it is seen and thought? In a recent book by Peter Berger, Grace Davie e Effie Fokas (2008) Religious America, Secular Europe? this question returns to another question, much more intriguing: is Europe an exception in respect of the rest of the world and, above all, in respect of United States of America, following the indicators of the religiosity? (Davie, 2002; Hervieu-Léger, 2003) Or is not this assumed exception an unconditioned reflection of a chronic ethnocentrism of the European sociologists? For Berger we are watching more and more the de-secularisation and also Europe seems to be "round the corner" and to return "to faiths". However, half of Europeans, following the more recent data of the European Values Study, affirms that they pray or meditate once a week and three fourth of them affirm to feel religious themselves. Maybe, they fail to attend mass, but they don't renounce to think religiously and they continue to feel the need a sense of their action. At last, the socio-religious geography is rapidly changing: we can linger to make referendum for the opening of a mosque or for the construction of minarets, but the religious diversity is just evident, A well-informed social theory has to confute paradigms, schemes and conceptual matrix of the past. A sociology of religion that studies only the historically prevailing religions lingering to debate if and what the society if secularised risks not to understand how the society changes, its religious diversities and what they express. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]