Search

Background: Erectile dysfunction (ED) is a multifaceted yet prevalent male-related sexual dysfunction that manifests as a change in any of the erectile response components, including relational, psychological, and biological. We aimed to use bibliometric analyses to determine how ED research has progressed and define the future trends necessary to contribute to scholarly literature.Methods: Two tools, VOSviewer and MS Excel, were used, and the study was conducted in May 2022. A total of 16,114 records were selected for in-depth analyses. We examined the most eminent authors, highly cited papers within journals, and the institutions that have provided the greatest number of articles regarding ED, and demonstrated that ED research has increased over the last two decades.Results: The total number of research documents published between 1971 and 2021 was 16,114, with a growth rate of 5%. Montorsi, Maggi, and Mulhall shared the top spot in the number of publications (n = 164). The Journal of Sexual Medicine has the most papers (N = 1839), followed by the International Journal of Impotence Research (N = 780), the Journal of Urology (N = 557), and Urology (N = 489).Conclusion: The study revealed increased ED research in the past two decades, with notable authors and sources identified. The top three countries contributing to ED are the UK, Italy, and the USA. Recommendations include interdisciplinary collaboration, novel therapeutic approaches, addressing psychological and relational factors, conducting longitudinal studies, and publishing in reputable journals. Implementing these can advance understanding, improve treatment options, and enhance ED management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding lay theories on the causes of economic inequality is the first step to comprehending why people tolerate, justify, or react against it. Accordingly, this paper aims to develop and validate with two cross-sectional studies the Attributions for Cross-Country Inequality Scale (ACIS), which assesses how people explain cross-country economic inequality–namely, the uneven distribution of income and wealth between poor and rich countries. After selecting and adapting items from existing scales of attributions for poverty and wealth, in Study 1, we tested the factorial structure of this initial pool of items in three countries with different levels of economic development and inequality, namely, Italy (n = 246), the UK (n = 248), and South Africa (n = 228). Three causal dimensions emerged from the Exploratory Factor Analysis: "rich countries" (blaming the systematic advantage of and exploitation by rich countries), "poor countries" (blaming the dispositional inadequacy and faults of poor countries), and "fate" (blaming destiny and luck). The retained items were administered in Study 2 to three new samples from Italy (n = 239), the UK (n = 249), and South Africa (n = 248). Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) corroborated the factorial structure of the ACIS, and Multi-Group CFA supported configural and metric invariances of the scale across countries. In addition, we show internal consistency and construct validity of the scale: the scale correlates with relevant constructs (e.g., beliefs about cross-country inequality and ideological orientation) and attitudes toward relevant policies related to international redistribution and migration. Overall, the scale is a valid instrument to assess causal attribution for cross-national inequality and is reliable across countries. By focusing on resource distribution from an international perspective, this scale will allow researchers to broaden the discussion on economic inequality to a global level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As humanity reaches the 5.0 industrial revolution, education plays a critical role in boosting the quality of human resources. This paper reports bibliometric research on emerging TiP during 1993-2022 in the educational field to analyse its development on any level of education during the last three decades. This study employed a Scopus database. The findings are that the trend of TiP publication in educational fields has tended to increase every year during the past three decades and conference paper became the most published document type, the USA is the country which produces the most publications; "Students" being the most occurrences keyword and total link strength. The publication of the TiP is ranked to the Quartile 1, which implies that a publication with the cited performance is a publication with credibility because the publisher has a good reputation. Researchers can find the topics most relevant to other metadata sources such as Web of Science, Publish, and Perish.

Acknowledging the extreme risk COVID-19 poses to humans, this paper attempted to analyze and compare case fatality rates, identify the existence of learning curves for COVID-19 medical treatments, and examine the impact of vaccination on fatality rate reduction. Confirmed cases and deaths were extracted from the "Daily Situation Report" provided by the World Health Organization. The results showed that low registration and low viral test rates resulted in low fatality rates, and the learning curve was significant for all countries except China. Treatment for COVID-19 can be improved through repeated experience. Vaccinations in the U.K. and U.S.A. are highly effective in reducing fatality rates, but not in other countries. The positive impact of vaccines may be attributed to higher vaccination rates. In addition to China, this study identified the existence of learning curves for the medical treatment of COVID-19 that can explain the effect of vaccination rates on fatalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to understand if and which lessons have been learned since the financial crisis of 2007-2008, highlighting the main deficiencies which still affect the corporate governance and risk management systems more than a decade after. A survey was performed by collecting the answers to 15 questions about corporate governance and risk management practices, given by a representative sample of 200 finance professionals (100 from the USA, 50 from Italy, 50 from the UK). The survey allows saying that corporate governance codes and risk management approach, even though improved and implemented over the past decade, still present problems in terms of principles or application. The results provide insights into how corporate governance issues are addressed and how financial institutions and regulators learn and adapt from a crisis. The paper also gives new perspectives on corporate governance, indicating where regulators need to focus on to rethink the governance mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The swift urbanization and ensuing challenges in global cities require a transition towards "intelligent" urban management. This change is motivated by the necessity to enrich the quality of life, tackling crucial issues such as transportation. How can municipal authorities effectively utilize smart city principles and technologies to enhance efficiency and sustainability in urban living? This query plays a vital role in steering urban policies and city governance towards a more sustainable and intelligent future. The paper suggests a survey-based research perspective unprecedented on "disruptive" transportation, offering a longitudinal examination (2010–2023) of cross-national comparison (ITA-UK) using a relatively large sample (No. 450 total) and divided into No.150 –UK 2023, No.150 –ITA 2023, and No. 150 Italy 2010 respectively. The sample base considers the two Capitals (London and Rome) for diversity, population size, and ongoing projects related to "smart" urban developed. Intending to offer a valuable analytical tool for policymakers, scholars, managers, and professionals, the paper primarily explores the evolutionary progression of sustainability concepts inherent in the smart city paradigm and their fusion with transportation; after the cross-national comparison is essential for highlighting mindset disparities that influence future planning endeavors for future urban transportation sector. The key findings revolve around cultural, ideological, ownership disparities and individualistic tendencies that contribute to a resistance to change. The empirical analysis demonstrates an advancement for Italy compared to previous years, but still cautious particularly concerning the adoption of shared mobility alternatives, which also presents a viable solution for increasing the adoption of electric vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The dissemination of scientific data on coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continually builds but, in April 2020, could not keep up with the spread of the disease. Through technology, surgeons in Italy and the UK, representing both peak and pre-peak infective time zones, were able to communicate so that the urgent lessons on the huge expected demands of care learned in Italy could be brought to the UK in advance. This paper specifically discusses the issues related to paediatric surgery, currently under-reported in the literature. Methods The aim of this paper is to conjoin experience from the field to provide a framework for a safe assessment and treatment of paediatric patients by adopting a systemic approach aimed at reducing the risk of contamination. We reviewed the processes and good practices that were undertaken in contexts of emergency such as in Italy and the UK and then adapted them within the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) framework to provide an assessment of how to reorganize the services in order to cope with an unexpected situation. The SEIPS model is the adopted theoretical framework, which allows to analyse the system in its main components with a human factors and ergonomics (HFE) perspective. Results The results introduce some of the good practices and recommendations developed during the emergency in the surgical scenario with a focus on the paediatric patients. They represent the lessons learned from the combination of the little existing evidence of literature and the experience from surgical teams who responded in an impromptu and unrehearsed way. Conclusions Lessons learned from the frontline 'on the fly' during COVID-19 emergency should be consolidated and taken into the future. In order to prepare proactively for the next phases and get ahead of the curve of these hospital accesses, there is a need for a risk assessment of the new clinical pathways with a multidisciplinary approach centred on HFE with the adoption of the SEIPS model and an involvement of all the surgical teams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has been characterized by a social media "infodemic": an overabundance of information whose authenticity may not always be guaranteed. With the potential to lead individuals to harmful decisions for the society, this infodemic represents a severe threat to information security, public health and democracy. In this paper, we assess the interplay between the infodemic and specific aspects of the pandemic, such as the number of cases, the strictness of containment measures, and the news media coverage. We perform a comparative study on three countries that employed different managements of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020—namely Italy, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand. We first analyze the three countries from an epidemiological perspective to characterize the impact of the pandemic and the strictness of the restrictions adopted. Then, we collect a total of 6 million posts from Facebook to describe user news consumption behaviors with respect to the reliability of such posts. Finally, we quantify the relationship between the number of posts published in each of the three countries and the number of confirmed cases, the strictness of the restrictions adopted, and the online news media coverage about the pandemic. Our results show that posts referring to reliable sources are consistently predominant in the news circulation, and that users engage more with reliable posts rather than with posts referring to questionable sources. Furthermore, our modelling results suggest that factors related to the epidemiological and informational ecosystems can serve as proxies to assess the evolution of the infodemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The higher education efficiency evaluation model using the data envelopment analysis method has interested many researchers. This paper uses bibliometric analysis on publications extracted from the Scopus database to provide a comprehensive overview of research publications on the measurement of higher education efficiency based on data envelopment analysis: its growth rate, major collaboration networks, the most important and popular research topic. A total of 169 related publications were collected and analyzed from 1988 to 2021. The analysis results show that: Publications published every year have increased sharply in the last six years; The quality of publications is relatively high as publications tend to be published in journals with high-ranking indexes; Countries with the most influence in studies on this topic are: Italy, China, Spain, the USA, and the United Kingdom; Authors with the most influence in this research direction are Agasisti T., Abbott M., Doucouliagos C., Avkiran N.K., and Johnes J.; The research cooperation among countries and among affiliations is not strong. Finally, the paper has provided recommendations for future studies based on the findings.

Notable cross-country differences exist in the diffusion of the Covid-19 and in its lethality. Contact patterns in populations, and in particular intergenerational contacts, have been argued to be responsible for the most vulnerable, the elderly, getting infected more often and thus driving up mortality in some context, like in the southern European one. This paper asks a simple question: is it between whom contacts occur that matters or is it simply how many contacts people have? Due to the high number of confounding factors, it is extremely difficult to empirically assess the impact of single network features separately. This is why we rely on a simulation exercise in which we counterfactually manipulate single aspects of countries' age distribution and network structures. We disentangle the contributions of the kind and of the number of contacts while holding constant the age structure. More precisely, we isolate the respective effects of inter-age contact patterns, degree distribution and clustering on the virus propagation across age groups. We use survey data on face-to-face contacts for Great Britain, Italy, and Germany, to reconstruct networks that mirror empirical contact patterns in these three countries. It turns out that the number of social contacts (degree distribution) largely accounts for the higher infection rates of the elderly in the Italian context, while differences in inter-age contacts patterns are only responsible for minor differences. This suggests that policies specifically targeting inter-age contacts would be little effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest in higher education institutions (HEIs) as instruments for development has increased in recent years. The main objective of this paper is to address the contribution of HEIs to development through their missions, models, and challenges. With this purpose, we perform a historical analysis and characterise higher-education systems through the perspective of university models and missions, noticing relevant aspects regarding the evolution of this institution over time, as well as the transformations undergone. We also consider the main challenges that current higher education systems face in the 21st century. As methodological approaches, we carry out a literature review complemented by a comparative analysis based on data from the higher education systems of ten European countries. The findings show that HEIs can contribute to development through their missions, which are related to the models of higher education. Their first mission (teaching) contributes to improving human capital and attracting highly qualified people to their regions; the second mission (research) improves scientific knowledge which can foster innovative activities; and the third mission (community service) acts as a link between research and business, including patents, business incubators, and collaboration agreements. We also conclude that the challenges of higher education in the 21st century can be categorised essentially in three main areas: (1) globalisation and massification of higher education, as well as the internationalisation of HEIs' missions and diversification of the educational supply to attract new students; (2) new technologies related to the digitalisation of teaching and distance learning; and (3) higher education entrepreneurship, showing the importance of university-company relationships. This paper provides a global setting for a reflection on the role of HEIs in the 21st century, given their connection with society and the need for a more effective contribution to socio-economic development.

The need for self-directed learning for professional development drives an increase in the delivery of easy to use 'just-in-time' resources that respond to the often-dynamic workplace and work culture. This is especially important in the era of globalisation, when the number of employees, who are culturally diverse, increases each year. Most medium and large companies operate in an international environment, and this is due to the expansion of international enterprises with branches in various countries that requires cooperation with foreign clients, and the employment of foreign nationals in their companies. In order to guarantee the effectiveness of workings in companies, there is a need for continuous education in the aspect of the cultural diversity. This paper explores micro-learning, which focuses on delivering brevity through bite-sized learning units or short-term learning activities. Learning content in this case can take many forms, from text to interactive multimedia. These contents are often created on demand, which can sometimes be less contextualised and pedagogically informed. Based on a case study of the need for training on cultural risks in multi-cultural organisations, this paper focuses on the design of mini-games as playful learning resources for supporting an online learning platform that has been developed as a response to this training need. Fifteen mini-games have been developed to complement eight main topics related to cultural risks and to promote reflection, practice and the self-assessment of knowledge acquired through the platform. The main eight topics represent the risk areas identified that include cultural awareness, understanding different cultures, communication, learning styles, hierarchy, team-working, qualities in the working place, and stereotypes through a survey carried out with personnel (n=154) from multi-cultural organisations across five countries - Cyprus, Italy, Latvia, Poland, and the UK. The discussions include unpacking the mapping of pedagogical and gameful design considerations based on Arnab et al.'s (2015) Learning Mechanics-Game Mechanics Mapping (LMGM) model. The paper also discusses the findings from the testing of the online platform across 5 countries including 166 participants (two-step testing). The insights provided will be valuable to researchers, practitioners, designers, and developers of micro-learning resources.

This rapid systematic review aims to examine emerging evidence on the effects of COVID-19 on educational institutions and assess the prevalence of e-learning changes in the sector. This paper reviews literature on learning, teaching, and assessment approaches adopted since the COVID-19 outbreak, and assesses the impact on the sector, staff, and students, summarizing findings from peer-reviewed articles. It categorizes these into five key themes: (1) digital learning; (2) e-learning challenges; (3) digital transition to emergency virtual assessment (EVA); (4) psychological impact of COVID-19; and (5) creating collaborative cultures. This represents the first systematic review of COVID-19's impact on education, clarifying current themes being investigated. The author suggests that the term 'emergency virtual assessment' (EVA) is now added for future research discussion. Finally, the paper identifies research gaps, including researching the impact on lesser developed countries, the psychological impact of transition, and the important role of leadership and leadership styles during the transition and handling of the pandemic.

BACKGROUND Family patterns in Western countries have changed substantially across birth cohorts. The spread of unmarried cohabitation, the decline and postponement of marriage and fertility, and the rise in nonmarital births, partnership instability, and repartnering lead to an increasing diversity in family life courses. OBJECTIVE In this paper we demonstrate how to set up a tool to explore family life trajectories. This tool models the changing family patterns, taking into account the complex interrelationships between childbearing and partnership processes. METHODS We build a microsimulation model parameterised using retrospective partnership and childbearing data. The data cover women born since 1940 in Italy, Great Britain, and two Scandinavian countries (Norway and Sweden), three significantly different cultural and institutional contexts of partnering and childbearing in Europe. RESULTS We guide readers through the modelling of individual life events to obtain a set of aggregate estimates, providing information on the power, technical structure, and underlying assumptions of microsimulations. Validation of the simulated family life courses against their real-world equivalents shows that the simulations not only closely replicate observed childbearing and partnership processes, but also provide high quality predictions when compared to more recent fertility indicators. CONCLUSIONS Using observed population estimates to systematically validate the results both validates our model and increases confidence that microsimulations satisfactorily replicate the behaviour of the original population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to describe the goals, activities, and methods of EUMOVE project in developing a set of resources targeting both primary and secondary schools that allow the entire educational community to promote healthy lifestyles (HL). The EUMOVE project is an Erasmus+ program based in the Creating Active Schools (CAS) framework. The project lasted 3 years and was developed by 14 academic and non-governmental institutions from Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, and the UK. EUMOVE was divided into three phases. In the first phase, several work packages were carried out aimed to ensure the coordination/management of the project activities. In the second phase, seven educational resources strengthened by rigorous scientific research were developed to promote HL from schools. During the last phase, all the resources were disseminated through scientific seminars, workshops with families and teachers, and the online promotion by the non-governmental institutions of each country. The EUMOVE project developed and promoted a smartphone APP, video/activity repository of physically active lessons, active break virtual platform, learning units, and parent/teachers/school-leaders' guidelines to promote physical activity, active commuting, active school playgrounds, healthy diet, and sleep habits. To our knowledge, EUMOVE is the first European project to provide a set of practical tools based on scientific evidence to help schools or future school-wide interventions implement a paradigm shift based on the CAS framework for the promotion of HL. Future research will need to investigate the implementation, effectiveness, and scalability of this proposal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A MIMO GB-SAR system called MELISSA was put in place to monitor landslides in Italy and the sinking of the Costa Concordia cruise liner in France. It comprises 12 pyramidal horn antennas placed in a linear geometry for transmission, and these are used in the detection of the motion of a target (for example a landslide or other terrestrial deformation). The low half power beam width (19.76° at θ = 90°) of the transmitting radiation pattern of MELISSA results in low coverage area of the target. This paper proposes two alternative types of horn antenna for the current transmitter module of MELISSA, namely the cantenna and coaxial cavity horn antenna, for installation in a 2×6 planar antenna array. A higher value of the 3 dB beamwidth is observed using these arrays (38.320 at θ = 90° and 104.80 at φ = 0° for the cantenna array and 410 at θ = 90° and 140.40 at φ = 0° for the coaxial cavity horn antenna array). The overall gain of the proposed systems is around 10 dBi, and the efficiencies are between 85% and 90%. Using the Dolph Chebyshev beamforming technique on the proposed antenna arrays yields a zero sidelobe level, which improves the overall peak sidelobe ratio of the system and in turn the quality of the images obtained. Our proposed design for the transmitting section of the MELISSA system has applications terrestrial deformation monitoring with higher area coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Background and rationale Restorative proctocolectomy (RPC) with ileal pouch-anal anastomosis is considered the procedure of choice in patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) refractory to medical therapy and in those who develop colonic dysplasia or cancer. 1 The procedure is performed with the aim of improving quality of life with generally good outcomes; 2 , 3 however, complications including pouchitis can arise. The incidence of acute pouchitis is 20% at 1 year and up to 40% at 5 years following surgery. 4 Chronic idiopathic pouchitis develops in ~10%–15% of patients with acute pouchitis. 5 , 6 Another less well-reported complication is prepouch ileitis (PPI). PPI has no standard definition but is inflammation of the ileum proximal to the pouch. The estimated frequency of PPI is 6%. 7 , 8 This pattern of inflammation can extend for a significant distance into the afferent limb (up to 50 cm), 9 but this is unusual. 8 It is usually seen with coexisting pouchitis. It is mostly a condition that is associated with a pouch for UC and is rarely seen in patients who have undergone a pouch for familial adenomatous polyposis. 9 This therefore suggests that both the immune system and the environment interact within a genetically susceptible patient to cause inflammation. As the immune system is likely to play a role in PPI, the use of biologic medications may potentially help achieve remission through the immunomodulatory actions. Furthermore, biologic drugs have been shown to result in remission in about 50% of patients with inflammation of their pouch. 10 As it has been shown that PPI is often associated with pouchitis, it may therefore be beneficial in treating this problem. 8 , 11 Symptoms of PPI are generally nonspecific but can include increased stool frequency, outlet obstruction, and bleeding. 12 The treatment of PPI as a specific entity has been poorly studied, but it is generally treated concurrently with pouchitis. One small study looked at the effects of antibiotics on PPI in a cohort with a diagnosis of UC and showed that 86% of patients showed symptomatic improvement with significant reduction in both stool frequency and length of PPI. However, this was based on only 14 patients. Furthermore, there has been only one small case series of five patients where infliximab was found to be effective in the short term for the specific treatment of PPI in a cohort with a diagnosis of Crohn's disease. 13 Historically, the limited literature reporting outcomes of biologic therapy for PPI has assumed that PPI is a Crohn's-like complication. 13 – 15 Recent studies, however, have highlighted that PPI is not a strong predictor for the development of unequivocal features of Crohn's disease, 11 , 12 and therefore, it is important to report treatment outcomes dependent on whether Crohn's disease is thought to be the underlying cause or not. Objectives This aim of this study was to document the efficacy of biologics for the treatment of PPI. To our knowledge, this is the largest study to explore the efficacy of all biologics for the specific treatment of PPI with the longest follow-up data. Methods Study design and setting This was a retrospective observational study across three centers. Data were collected from two centers in the UK and one center in Bologna, Italy. This included two tertiary referral centers and one district general hospital. Patients were censored at the last clinical encounter following their most recent biologic therapy or until they had pouch failure defined by the need to form an ileostomy to relieve symptoms. Participants Patients were included if they met all of the following inclusion criteria: Undergone restorative proctocolectomy for UC Evidence of PPI on endoscopic assessment with inflammation confirmed histologically Treated with infliximab, adalimumab, or vedolizumab (other biologics were not available at our centers during the study period) Variables Patients were followed up until last clinical encounter. Outcomes included the presence of PPI following biologic therapy, pouch failure defined by the need for an ileostomy, remission of PPI defined by the absence of any prepouch inflammation on endoscopic assessment within a year of biologic therapy and the need to switch to an alternative biologic. Primary nonresponse was defined as failure of clinical improvement at 12 weeks of biologic therapy. Secondary loss of response was defined as lack of clinical response to biologic therapy after 12 weeks of treatment. Lack of clinical benefit was judged by the senior clinician looking after the patient and was guided by symptoms, endoscopic, histological, and biochemical markers. A template data collection sheet was given to each sub-investigator to collect the variables of interest. Potential patients were identified using each hospital's biologics and pouch databases. Those patients identified from the database were then screened against the inclusion and exclusion criteria by interrogation of the patient's electronic and case notes. Completed templates were then collated and analyzed. Measurement of variables The use of the term Crohn's disease (CD) is controversial in pouch-related inflammatory problems. 16 In our study, we defined this by the presence of conclusive histology (granulomas supporting CD) and/or presence of skip lesions in the small bowel. Pouchitis was defined using the pouch disease activity index (PDAI). 17 Patients were classified as having pouchitis if their PDAI within 1 year before starting infliximab was ≥7. PPI was defined as any inflammation immediately proximal to the pouch; inflammation was defined if the endoscopist reported the presence of edema, ulceration, erythema, or contact bleeding in the immediate prepouch ileum with histological confirmation of inflammation in that section. Statistical methods All variables were analyzed using STATA (StataCorp LP, College Station, TX, USA). Ethical approval Ethical approval was granted by the Health Research Authority (IRAS ID: 233311). The study was considered a service evaluation study, and hence as anonymized data were used, written consent was not required by our ethics committee. Local ethics was not considered a requirement by Malpighi Hospital as the study was considered an audit of practice. The study was carried out in accordance with the principles of the declaration of Helsinki. Results There were 29 patients in our cohort. The median age of diagnosis of UC was 27 years (range 6–48 years). The median age of the patients at censorship was 53 years (range 19–68 years). The median time from pouch formation to diagnosis of PPI was 79 months (range 1–147 months). The median length of time a patient was on biologics at censorship was 12 months (range 2–62 months). The median length of follow-up on the whole cohort was 21 months (range 1–99 months) (Table 1). Table 1 Baseline characteristics Abbreviations: CD, Crohn's disease; IBD, inflammatory bowel disease; PPI, prepouch ileitis; UC, ulcerative colitis. Ten patients were reclassified as having confirmed CD after a median time from formation of pouch of 202 months (range 1–372 months; Figure 1). Six had granulomas on further histological assessment and skip lesions on small bowel imaging and four had granulomas on histology alone. Figure 1 Kaplan–Meier graph for pouch failure. Notes: Log rank test comparing "survival" times in the two groups P=0.72, no evidence of a difference between groups. Abbreviations: CD, Crohn's disease; UC, ulcerative colitis. Change of medications One patient had primary nonresponse to infliximab and was changed to vedolizumab. Nine other patients had secondary loss of response to infliximab; of these, six were changed to adalimumab and three were changed to vedolizumab. Of all those in whom the first biologic failed, the median time to failure was 12.0 months (range 2–39 months). Remission and pouch failure At last endoscopic follow-up within 1 year of starting a biologic, 20 of 29 patients still had endoscopic evidence of PPI, seven had achieved remission, and two had no endoscopic follow-up. Of the six patients who achieved endoscopic remission, four had a biopsy from the prepouch ileum which demonstrated histological remission. The other two were not biopsied at endoscopic follow-up. Of the seven who had achieved remission, five have stopped all medications and remained clinically well, one was taking colifoam enemas and one used cyclical metronidazole to maintain symptomatic response. All patients who had achieved remission were patients who had their biologic for PPI with coexisting pouchitis. In our cohort, 11 patients went on to pouch failure after a median time from starting a biologic of 25 months (range 14–91 months). Of those who had their UC reclassified to CD, three of ten patients (30%) had pouch failure compared with eight of 19 (42%) who had UC (P=0.72) (Figure 1). The cumulative 1-, 2-, 5-, and 8-year failure rates were 0%, 17%, 30%, and 38%, respectively (Figure 1). Discussion PPI remains a difficult condition to treat. Our study has highlighted that the use of biologics for PPI is associated with relatively low remission rates of 31% at a median follow-up of 20.5 months (range 1–99 months). When using biologics for PPI, there was pouch failure in just over one third of the cohort after a median follow-up of 25 months (range 14–91 months). In our small cohort, we found that PPI associated with CD had lower rates of failure than PPI with UC but this was not statistically significant. Although it is hard to draw conclusions in a small study, it is possible that PPI associated with CD has different response rates to PPI associated with UC but this will require further exploration in larger prospective studies. There are a paucity of data highlighting the outcomes of biologic treatments in inflammatory pouch problems. A systematic review that included all chronic inflammatory pouch problems highlighted that remission could be achieved in 53%. 18 Only under a quarter of patients achieved remission from their PPI when using a biologic, suggesting that the presence of PPI is associated with a less favorable treatment response. It has been shown that PPI is often associated with pouchitis. 8 , 11 As such it is difficult to know what additional contribution to symptoms is made by PPI, or if PPI in isolation requires any different treatment from pouchitis, or indeed should be classified as CD, as it effectively represents a skip lesion. It has however been demonstrated that PPI is likely to be a poor prognostic sign and associated with higher rates of pouch failure 19 and therefore treatment with the aim of achieving remission may be associated with better outcomes. This study has highlighted that PPI has practical and clinical implications. It is therefore essential that this complication is recorded during endoscopic pouch assessment. This study is limited by small numbers and retrospective analysis. It is also limited by relative heterogeneity in patient cohort. Ideally future studies should explore comparing treatments for PPI in direct head to head trials. It is also surprising that no patients had prior exposure to a biologic. It has been reported that in patients with UC who require a biologic, those previously exposed to a biologic had poorer outcomes than those who had never previously been exposed to a biologic medication 20 and so future work may help understand if this trend also occurs in those with PPI. A standard definition of PPI would also aid our understanding and outcomes of this complication, which has been shown to have a poorer prognosis than pouchitis in isolation. Conclusion To our knowledge, this is the largest study to explore the efficacy of all biologics for the specific treatment of PPI with the longest follow-up data. Biologics fail to achieve endoscopic remission of PPI in the majority of patients. In a small proportion of patients, they may help to prevent deterioration in pouch dysfunctional symptoms. In a large proportion of patients with PPI, surgery with indefinite diversion may be required despite biologic use. Acknowledgments This paper was presented in abstract form at the British Society of Gastroenterology Conference in Liverpool, UK, 2018 with interim findings. The poster's abstract was entitled "Biological therapy for the treatment of pre-pouch ileitis: a retrospective experience from three centres" and was published in "Poster Abstracts" GUT which can be found at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/gutjnl-2018-BSGAbstracts.183 (category: inflammatory bowel disease). Author contributions JPS, MR, CV, and RKF collected the data. JPS analyzed the data and prepared the manuscript. JPS and PB performed statistical analysis. JPS, MR, CV, RKF, GHTW, SDM, ALH, SKC, and ODF have revised the manuscript critically and prepared the final version of the manuscript. All authors contributed to data analysis, drafting and revising the article, gave final approval of the version to be published, and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work. Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work. References 1. Sandborn WJ. Pouchitis: definition, risk factors, frequency, natural history, classification, and public health perspective. Trends Inflamm Bowel Dis Ther 1996. 1997. 2. de Buck van Overstraeten A, Wolthuis AM, Vermeire S, et al. Long-term functional outcome after ileal pouch anal anastomosis in 191 patients with ulcerative colitis. J Crohns Colitis. 2014;8(10):1261–1266. 3. Tulchinsky H, Dotan I, Halpern Z, Klausner JM, Rabau M. A longitudinal study of quality of life and functional outcome of patients with ulcerative colitis after proctocolectomy with ileal pouch-anal anastomosis. Dis Colon Rectum. 2010;53(6):866–873. 4. Lepistö A, Luukkonen P, Järvinen HJ. Cumulative failure rate of ileal pouch-anal anastomosis and quality of life after failure. Dis Colon Rectum. 2002;45(10):1289–1294. 5. Pardi DS, Shen B. Endoscopy in the management of patients after ileal pouch surgery for ulcerative colitis. Endoscopy. 2008;40(6):529–533. 6. Shen B. Pouchitis: what every gastroenterologist needs to know. Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2013;11(12):1538–1549. 7. Samaan MA, de Jong D, Sahami S, et al. Incidence and Severity of Prepouch Ileitis. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2016;22(3):662–668. 8. Mclaughlin SD, Clark SK, Bell AJ, Tekkis PP, Ciclitira PJ, Nicholls RJ. Incidence and short-term implications of prepouch ileitis following restorative proctocolectomy with ileal pouch-anal anastomosis for ulcerative colitis. Dis Colon Rectum. 2009;52(5):879–883. 9. Bell AJ, Price AB, Forbes A, Ciclitira PJ, Groves C, Nicholls RJ. Pre-pouch ileitis: a disease of the ileum in ulcerative colitis after restorative proctocolectomy. Colorectal Dis. 2006;8(5):402–410. 10. Segal JP, Ding NS, Worley G, et al. Systematic review with meta-analysis: the management of chronic refractory pouchitis with an evidence-based treatment algorithm. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2017;45(5):581–592. 11. Segal JP, Mclaughlin SD, Faiz OD, Hart AL, Clark SK. Incidence and long-term implications of prepouch ileitis: an observational study. Dis Colon Rectum. 2018;61(4):472–475. 12. Rottoli M, Vallicelli C, Bigonzi E, et al. Prepouch ileitis after ileal pouch-anal anastomosis: patterns of presentation and risk factors for failure of treatment. J Crohns Colitis. 2018;12(3):273–279. 13. Colombel JF, Ricart E, Loftus EV, et al. Management of Crohn's disease of the ileoanal pouch with infliximab. Am J Gastroenterol. 2003;98(10):2239–2244. 14. Shen B, Remzi FH, Lavery IC, et al. Administration of adalimumab in the treatment of Crohn's disease of the ileal pouch. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2009;29(5):519–526. 15. Ferrante M, D'Haens G, Dewit O, et al. Efficacy of infliximab in refractory pouchitis and Crohn's disease-related complications of the pouch: a Belgian case series. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2010;16(2):243–249. 16. Lightner AL, Pemberton JH, Loftus EJ. Crohn's Disease of the Ileoanal Pouch. Inflamm Bowel Dis. 2016;22(6):1502–1508. 17. Sandborn WJ, Tremaine WJ, Batts KP, Pemberton JH, Phillips SF. Pouchitis after ileal pouch-anal anastomosis: a Pouchitis Disease Activity Index. Mayo Clin Proc. 1994;69(5):409–415. 18. Segal JP, Ding NS, Worley G, et al. Systematic review with meta-analysis: the management of chronic refractory pouchitis with an evidence-based treatment algorithm. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2017;45(5):581–592. 19. Segal JP, Mclaughlin SD, Faiz OD, Hart AL, Clark SK. Incidence and long-term implications of prepouch ileitis: an observational study. Dis Colon Rectum. 2018;61(4):472–475. 20. Reinisch W, Sandborn WJ, Hommes DW, et al. Adalimumab for induction of clinical remission in moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis: results of a randomised controlled trial. Gut. 2011;60(6):780–787. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Frailty is a clinical state that increases susceptibility to minor stressor events. The risk of frailty is higher in chronic conditions, such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). Recent studies on COPD have shown that patients living with frailty have an increased risk of mortality. The presence of cardiovascular diseases or conditions are common in COPD and may increase the risk of death. Methods: This protocol describes a European prospective cohort study of community-based people, in a stable condition with diagnosis of COPD (as defined by GOLD guidelines) across hospitals in Italy and UK. Frailty prevalence will be assessed using the Clinical Frailty Scale. At 1- and 2-year follow up, primary outcome will be the impact of frailty on the number of cardiovascular events; secondary outcomes: the influence of frailty on cardiovascular mortality, all-cause mortality, and deaths due to COPD. For the primary outcome a zero-inflated Poisson regression will compare the number of cardiovascular events at 1 year. Secondary outcomes will be analysed using the time to mortality. Discussion: This multicentre study will assess the association between frailty and cardiovascular events and mortality in population with COPD. Data collection is prospective and includes routine clinical data. This research will have important implications for the management of patients with COPD to improve their quality of care, and potentially prognosis. Trial registration number: NCT05922202 (www.clinicaltrials.gov). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the variables having impact on the student motivation have been analyzed based on the articles, conference papers, master's theses and doctoral dissertations published in the years 2000-2017. A total of 165 research papers were selected for the research material and the data were collected through qualitative research techniques through document review and content analysis. According to the research results, the most important factors affecting student motivation are the fields of teacher, teachers' classroom management skills and their teaching methods. In this research, factors having less influence on the student motivation are parental communication, student characteristics and study fields. In addition, relational search type was used more than others, mostly students were selected as the study group and most researches were conducted in USA and Turkey.

Pathways to childlessness may differ not only between individuals but also at the population level. This paper investigates differences in childlessness by comparing two countries-Britain and Italy-where levels of childlessness are high in comparison with many other European countries, but which have distinct fertility trajectories and family regimes. Using data from two large, representative national samples of women and men of reproductive age in a co-residential partnership, it presents a rich analysis of the characteristics associated with intended childlessness, net of the aspects associated with being childless at interview. Although childlessness intentions are generally comparable between men and women of the same age, results show a link between socio-economic disadvantage and childlessness for British men as well as the importance of men's employment for childbearing decisions in Italy. These findings support the view that pathways into childlessness are gendered and highlight the importance of partnership context in the understanding of fertility intentions. Then, the level of childlessness at interview is comparable across the two countries. However, a higher proportion of respondents in Italy is only provisionally childless, whereas a larger proportion of British respondents intends to remain childless. Framing these differences in fertility intentions within the wider context of family and fertility regimes allows insight into the extent to which observed levels of lifetime childlessness at the population level might result from a specific combination of intended childlessness, postponed decisions leading to involuntary childlessness, or constraints affecting abilities to achieve intentions at the individual level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the health care systems in Europe are considered the global benchmark, European nations were severely affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This manuscript aimed to examine the strategies implemented to combat the COVID-19 pandemic by France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Germany, and Russia and their outcomes in terms of the number of cases, testing, and deaths. This is the first review of its kind that extensively analyzes the preparedness, mitigation, and response strategies against the COVID-19 pandemic adopted by these nations. This paper further suggests a strategic preparedness model for future pandemics. From the analysis, we found that a decentralized approach, prompt decision-making and timely execution, coordination between local health authorities, and public participation in the implementation of strategies could substantially reduce the case fatality rate. Nations with a high percentage of gross domestic product invested in the health sector, as well as more nurses, physicians, hospital beds, intensive care unit beds, and ventilators, better managed the pandemic. Instead, nations that postponed their pandemic response by delaying tracking, tracing, testing, quarantine, and lockdown were badly affected. The lessons learned from the present pandemic could be used as a guide to prepare for further pandemics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article maps the scientific production and the contents associated with the sustainable development goals and their integration with universities during the past 21 years. Although many of the topics related to sustainable development goals (SDGs) have been addressed in different studies for decades, it is since 2015 onwards that they gained greater prominence due to the inclusion of higher education as an important actor in the fulfillment of the 2030 agenda and the United Nations SDGs. For the purpose of this paper, a bibliometric analysis of 871 papers, 535 documents in Scopus, and 336 in Web of Science (WoS) from 1998 to 2019 was performed, and the Bibliometrix analysis tool was used. The objective of this mapping is to answer the following research question: Is the integration of the Sustainable Development Goals and Universities a field of study? An analysis of the network of collaborators and trend topics in Scopus and WoS allows us to identify the concurrence and relationships of some keywords, such as sustainable development, sustainability and planning, and some background words, such as humans and global health. In another analysis, the word "higher education" is related to change. This article suggests that the integration of the Sustainable Development Goals in Universities is becoming a field of study under exploration, with a peak of production in 2016 and that has remained stable in the last three years, but thanks to the leading role assigned to Universities, intellectual production should increase in the following years.

A child's disability, long-term illness, or mental ill-health is known to affect siblings' health, social life, school engagement, and quality of life. This article addresses a research gap by its focus on young sibling carers and the impact of providing care to a sibling. A cross-national survey study was conducted in 2018–2019 (Italy, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK) to examine the incidence of adolescent sibling carers, the extent of care they provide, and their self-reported health, well-being, and school situation. The survey was completed by 7146 adolescents, aged 15–17, and 1444 of them provided care to family members with health-related conditions. Out of these, 286 were identified as Sibling Carers and 668 as Parent Carers, while 181 had both sibling(s) and parent(s) with health-related conditions, and thus were identified as Sibling–Parent Carers. Sibling Carers and Sibling–Parent Carers carried out higher levels of caring activities compared to Parent Carers. They reported both positive aspects of caring, such as increased maturity, and negative aspects, such as mental ill-health, impact on schooling and a lack of support. To reduce the negative aspects of a sibling carer role, it is important to recognise them and to implement early preventive measures and formal support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Patient and public involvement (PPI) is a critical priority in research, policy, academia and advocacy organizations. PPI in dementia research is gaining momentum. However, these efforts are missing in international projects aimed at those living with advanced dementia in long‐term care (LTC) homes. Additional complexities can arise in enacting PPI within the context of integration of a palliative approach to care and experiences around end‐of‐life in (EOL) dementia. The mySupport study involved implementing the Family Carer Decision Support (FCDS) intervention for care partners of those living with advanced dementia in LTC in six countries. Research Design and Objective: An interpretive description study was conducted to explore the perspectives of international researchers from six countries on engaging people with lived experiences of dementia and EOL care in research processes. The findings from this study informed the development of a PPI strategy and a subsequent toolkit for the FCDS intervention. Findings: Thirty‐eight interviews were completed with project researchers: 12 from the United Kingdom, 8 from Canada, 7 from Ireland, 4 each from Italy and The Netherlands and 3 from the Czech Republic. Four broad themes describe international researchers' perspectives on advancing methods of engagement for people with lived experiences of dementia and EOL in international PPI activities: (1) Groundwork to engage in research; (2) planning for research activities is key; (3) focus on meaningful engagement and (4) having foresight for practical issues shaping PPI. Discussion and Implications: International projects that involve PPI can present many sources of challenges. The findings in this study highlight important considerations for foundational work for incorporating PPI in international projects. Learning from world leaders and those with lived experiences in various regions can be insightful and help share tools and resources. Patient or Public Contribution: PPI was envisioned as a critical part of conducting the mySupport study. The findings from this study informed the development of a PPI strategy and an international Strategic Guiding Council that included family carers of those living with advanced dementia in LTC homes in six countries. This manuscript focused on the perspectives of researchers on their engagement with people with lived experiences of dementia and EOL. The perspectives of persons with lived experiences on engaging in the mySupport research study will be reported in a forthcoming manuscript. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diurnal variations in indicators of emotion have been reliably observed in Twitter content, but confirmation of their circadian nature has not been possible due to the many confounding factors present in the data. We report on correlations between those indicators in Twitter content obtained from 9 cities of Italy and 54 cities in the United Kingdom, sampled hourly at the time of the 2020 national lockdowns. This experimental setting aims at minimizing synchronization effects related to television, eating habits, or other cultural factors. This correlation supports a circadian origin for these diurnal variations, although it does not exclude the possibility that similar zeitgebers exist in both countries including during lockdowns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors analyse the gender unemployment gap in Italy and the United Kingdom by investigating the determinants of labour market flows, on the basis of multinomial logit model estimates, and identifying the contribution of a single transition from each state - employment, unemployment, inactivity - to the gap. Using this methodology, labour markets in Italy and the United Kingdom are compared, based on both countries' labour force survey data for the period 2004-13. Decomposition of the gender unemployment gap, using a transition probability matrix approach, shows that while women are disadvantaged in Italy, the reverse is true in the United Kingdom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amongst all European countries, Romania has one of the biggest immigrant communities abroad, and this has become a major social issue, especially after Romania became a member of the European Union. But what happens to these Romanian immigrants from the sociocultural point of view? Are they integrating themselves successfully in their adoptive countries? Which factors exert the most important influence in the process? How is sociocultural identity being reshaped by the immigration experience? In this paper, we shall try to find answers to all these questions, using already existing theories and studies, but also using a primary research on a group of high-skilled immigrants living in Italy and Great Britain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While ChatGPT has recently become very popular, AI has a long history and philosophy. This paper intends to explore the promises and pitfalls of the Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) AI and potentially future technologies by adopting a speculative methodology. Speculative future narratives with a specific focus on educational contexts are provided in an attempt to identify emerging themes and discuss their implications for education in the 21st century. Affordances of (using) AI in Education (AIEd) and possible adverse effects are identified and discussed which emerge from the narratives. It is argued that now is the best of times to define human vs AI contribution to education because AI can accomplish more and more educational activities that used to be the prerogative of human educators. Therefore, it is imperative to rethink the respective roles of technology and human educators in education with a future-oriented mindset.

This paper develops a two-stage stochastic mixed integer linear programming model to optimize Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage (CCUS) supply chains in Italy, Germany and the UK. Few works are present in the literature about this topic, thus this paper overcomes this limitation considering carbon supply chains producing different products. The objective of the numerical models is to minimize expected total costs, under the uncertainties of the production costs of carbon-dioxide-based compounds. Once carbon dioxide emissions that should be avoided are fixed, according to environmental protection requirements for each country, the optimal design of these supply chains is obtained finding the distribution of carbon dioxide captured between utilization and storage sections, the amount of different carbon-based products and the best connection between each element inside the system. The expected total costs for the CCUS supply chain of Italy, Germany and the UK are, respectively, 77.3, 98.0 and 1.05 billion€/year (1004, 613 and 164 €/ton CO2 captured). A comparison with the respective deterministic model, analyzed elsewhere, is considered through the evaluation of the Expected Value of Perfect Information (EVPI) and the Value of Stochastic Solution (VSS). The former is 1.29 billion€/year, 0.18 million€/year and 8.31 billion€/year, respectively, for the CCUS of Italy, the UK and Germany. VSS on the other hand is equal to 1.56 billion€/year, 0 €/year and 0.1 billion€/year, respectively, for the frameworks of Italy, the UK and Germany. The results show that the uncertain production cost in the stochastic model does not have a significant effect on the results; thus, in this case, there are few advantages in solving a stochastic model instead of the deterministic one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Max-Planck-Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung Discussion Papers is the property of Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies 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 development of new technologies has different effects on the existing law. Smart contracts are one of the forms of the new technologies that questions the application of the traditional contract law on commercial transactions using smart contracts. Italy was among the first jurisdictions to recognize full legal validity and enforceability of smart contracts. However, this issue is still being discussed in the United Kingdom. In that context, the enforceability of contractual transactions concluded in the form of smart contracts represents one of the major legal questions. Moreover, the question is whether the existing English contract law needs to be modified in order to secure the enforceability of smart contracts. These issues will be accordingly examined in this paper with the aim to understand better the relationship of the traditional contract law, on the one side, and, smart contracts, on the other side. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Horizons of Politics / Horyzonty Polityki is the property of Jesuit University Ignatianum in Krakow 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 researchers showed their increased interest in linking human resource management (HRM) and corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices in recent studies. HRM is a critical factor in how CSR should be enacted, developed, and understood at a broader level to achieve organizational benefits. Hence, it is evident that current studies are asking for more studies on HRM–CSR nexus, and we argue that such a relationship is necessary and relevant. Probing more in this research stream, the current research investigates the impact of HRM and CSR on sustainable performance. More specifically, this study explores how 3-star, 4-star, and 5-star hotels achieve sustainable performance through HRM and CSR in the hospitality industry of the UK, Italy, and Pakistan. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select the hotels by collecting hotel details from Chambers of the Commerce United Kingdom, Italian Government Statistics, and Pakistan Hotel Associations for the UK, Italy, and Pakistan. Through a highly structured survey questionnaire, the data were collected from 438 UK, 520 Italian, and 354 Pakistani hotels. The results confirm the HRM–CSR–sustainable performance nexus in the hospitality industries of three countries. They show that HRM impact on CSR and sustainable performance is relatively stronger in five-star hotels followed by three-star and then four-star hotels. These results supported the resource-based view theory by providing strong evidence that HRM and CSR are essential resources for achieving sustainable performance and competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Audio Universe: Tour of the Solar System is an audio-visual show for planetariums and flatscreen viewing. It is designed in collaboration with members of the blind and vision impaired (BVI) community, BVI specialist teachers and their pupils. It aims to be suitable for audiences with all sight levels by representing key concepts through sound and using a carefully constructed narration. We present results from 291 audience evaluations from online viewers and audience members of several planetarium showings in the UK and Italy. We find a strong appreciation from BVI and non-BVI audiences, with ~90% scoring 4 or 5 (out of 5) for both how useful and enjoyable the sounds are. We also present results from surveying planetariums and communication leaders known to have downloaded the show. We find international success for special events, for BVI audiences and for those with other special educational needs and disabilities (SEND; including sensory needs and learning difficulties). Feedback suggests this is due to its multi-sensory, clearly narrated, and low sensory load (calm) production. However, we also describe limitations identified during this evaluation exercise, including the show's limited incorporation into regular (non-special) planetarium programmes. This highlights an ongoing challenge of creating a fully inclusive planetarium experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the development of the poultry industry in Italy with the UK. Earlier research has suggested that the UK poultry industry developed a symbiotic relationship with the emerging supermarket retailers. Italy had a retarded supermarket sector. Its distribution system favoured small-scale, independent butchers rather than chains of self-service supermarkets. Despite this the Italian poultry industry also modernised, adopting US technologies. The catalyst for this modernisation was technological innovation in refrigeration technologies that enabled Italian consumers and independent retailers to be persuaded of the merits of the new ‘technological’ chicken. While the Italian market has become dominated by AIA and Amadori in recent years, the key innovators were the entrepreneurs that created the company called Arena. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Over the last decade, an increasing number of academic studies have examined how digital technologies can contribute to political participation, with numerous publications focusing on social networking websites. This article adds to this strand of research by tackling the scarcity of cross-national comparative studies in the field. Drawing from an original dataset acquired by combining a cross-national comparative approach and a mixed-methods methodology, this paper explores how media and political landscapes mediate the contributions of Facebook to citizens' political participation in Italy and the United Kingdom. A participatory gap between Italian and British participants, with Italians displaying higher levels of political participation through Facebook, is found and explained with reference to three contextual factors: the greater diffusion and relevance of other online platforms such as Twitter in the UK; Italian participants' more negative perception of traditional media linked to the high level of political parallelism typical of the Italian media system; and the presence in Italy of a political party such as the Five Stars Movement making full use of the communicative and organizational affordances of Facebook. The findings indicate that the contributions of Facebook, and digital technologies in general, to political participation must be analysed in context, within the larger patterns they fit into, and cannot be examined in isolation. Such contributions are better understood if considered within the hybrid media system in which different digital platforms interact, merge and compete. Similarly, the political scenarios in which citizens and political parties operate need to be accounted for when looking at the links between the Internet and politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between supply chain performance and renewable energies has been widely identified as a critical research topic by practitioners, international organizations, and academics. It is essential to explore the articles that have been published by scholars regarding their main concerns, the methodologies used, the renewable energies that have been focused on, and the performance indicators that have been used in the optimization of renewable energies supply chains. This paper delivers a comprehensive bibliometric analysis that provides a better understanding not previously fully evaluated by earlier studies in the field of supply chain performance and renewable energies. The goal of this research is: 1) to recognize the scholarly production; 2) the most productive authors; 3) the most productive journals; 4) the most cited articles; and 5) the most productive countries. The analysis begins by identifying studies published during the period between 2005 and the middle of 2018, which are then reduced in number to those authored by influential investigators. Also discussed are the gaps in knowledge about literature and bibliometric analysis. The findings provide a potential roadmap for researchers who intend to undertake research in this field. • The number of publications in supply chain performance and renewable energies has been increasing, in the last few years. • The topic of supply chain performance and renewable energies has been explored most deeply in the USA, Italy, and the UK. • The most-cited articles are related to the spatial distribution of bioenergy production units and process network. • The renewable energies most focused are bioethanol, biofuels, biomass, bio-oil gasifier. • The Biomass and Bioenergy journal is the most-cited journal in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Progressive ataxias are rare and complex neurological disorders that represent a challenge for the clinicians to diagnose and manage them. This study explored the patient pathways of individuals attending specialist ataxia centres (SAC) compared with non–specialist settings. We investigated specifically how diagnosis was reached, the access to healthcare services, treatments, and care satisfaction. The focus of this study was on early intervention, coordination of treatment to understand the care provision in different countries. Methods: A patient survey was done in the UK, Germany and Italy to gather information about diagnosis and management of the ataxias in specialist (SAC) and non-specialist settings, utilisation of other primary and secondary health care services, and patients' satisfaction of received treatment. Results: Patients gave positive feedback about the role of SAC in understanding their condition, ways to manage their ataxia (p < 0.001; UK) and delivering care adapted to their needs (p < 0.001; UK), in coordinating referrals to other healthcare specialists, and in offering opportunities to take part in research studies. Similar barriers for patients were identified in accessing the SACs among the selected countries, UK, Germany, and Italy. Conclusions: This study provides crucial information about the ataxia patients care pathways in three European countries. Overall, the results showed a trend in patients' satisfaction being better in SAC compared to non-SAC. The outcomes can be used now for policy recommendations on how to improve treatment and care for people with these very rare and complex neurological diseases across Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moral disengagement plays an important role in the routinization of counterproductive work behavior (CWB) as a key mediator. What remains unclear are the factors that could attenuate the power of moral disengagement in this process. Building on social-cognitive theory, we hypothesize the moderating role of moral self-efficacy and suggest the importance of two different dimensions: self-reflective and behavioral moral self-efficacies. While the former should buffer the CWB-moral disengagement path over time, the latter should buffer the moral disengagement-CWB path. After presenting the psychometric properties of the moral self-efficacy scale in two independent samples (Study 1: United Kingdom, N = 359; Study 2: Italy, N = 1308), we test the posited multi-wave moderated-mediated model. Results from a structural equation model supported our hypotheses. Results demonstrate that the routinization of CWB through the mediation of moral disengagement over time is conditionally influenced by the two moral self-efficacy dimensions. Employees high in capability to look back and question the assumptions that affected their behavior (i.e., self-reflective moral self-efficacy) are less likely to morally disengage as a result of previous engagement in CWB. Employees high in capability to morally self-regulate (i.e., behavioral moral self-efficacy) are less likely to engage in CWB as a result of their moral disengagement. Results of the conditional indirect effect suggest that previous engagement in CWB is not translated in future engagement in CWB for those individuals high in both moral self-efficacy dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. The increased comorbidities among older people are related to the longer life expectancy and the way a condition is defined. People who live longer and remain healthy express different needs from older people of previous decades. Objective. This study aims to present the profile of the older person in contemporary society and the careworkers' humanistic training needs. Methodology. The focus group methodology was selected. Twelve focus groups consisted of 69 participants over 60 years old in total and six focus groups of 41 careworkers in total, from Italy, Portugal, Finland, Romania, UK, and Cyprus, were conducted. A content analysis was used. Results. A profile of the older person living in the above stated countries was revealed with the "New Old" being financially independent, active with a healthy lifestyle, more informed and educated in relation to the past, liking social interactions, open-minded to new relationships, volunteering for non-for-profit associations, using technology, or wanting to learn how to use. However, older people in these countries were still experiencing ageism (discrimination, ignorance, and social exclusion) and lack of respect. Care workers also expressed their views in relation to the training needs that meets this new profile of older people including basic nursing skills, daily living activities, humanistic, person-centered care, social skills, and ICT competence. Conclusions. This multicenter focus group discussions study promoted the concept of the older person in contemporary society and the importance of humanistic care. A new definition of the older person and an adaptation of the training curricula for careworkers Job certification including the person-centered approach is required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In contrast to long-term relationships, far less is known about the temporal evolution of transient relationships, although these constitute a substantial fraction of people's communication networks. Previous literature suggests that ratings of relationship emotional intensity decay gradually until the relationship ends. Using mobile phone data from three countries (US, UK, and Italy), we demonstrate that the volume of communication between ego and its transient alters does not display such a systematic decay, instead showing a lack of any dominant trends. This means that the communication volume of egos to groups of similar transient alters is stable. We show that alters with longer lifetimes in ego's network receive more calls, with the lifetime of the relationship being predictable from call volume within the first few weeks of first contact. This is observed across all three countries, which include samples of egos at different life stages. The relation between early call volume and lifetime is consistent with the suggestion that individuals initially engage with a new alter so as to evaluate their potential as a tie in terms of homophily. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the outbreak of a disease caused by a pathogen with unknown characteristics, the uncertainty of its progression parameters can be reduced by devising methods that, based on rational assumptions, exploit available information to provide actionable insights. In this study, performed a few (~6) weeks into the outbreak of COVID-19 (caused by SARS-CoV-2), one of the most important disease parameters, the average time-to-recovery, was calculated using data publicly available on the internet (daily reported cases of confirmed infections, deaths, and recoveries), and fed into an algorithm that matches confirmed cases with deaths and recoveries. Unmatched cases were adjusted based on the matched cases calculation. The mean time-to-recovery, calculated from all globally reported cases, was found to be 18.01 days (SD 3.31 days) for the matched cases and 18.29 days (SD 2.73 days) taking into consideration the adjusted unmatched cases as well. The proposed method used limited data and provided experimental results in the same region as clinical studies published several months later. This indicates that the proposed method, combined with expert knowledge and informed calculated assumptions, could provide a meaningful calculated average time-to-recovery figure, which can be used as an evidence-based estimation to support containment and mitigation policy decisions, even at the very early stages of an outbreak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background the mySupport advance care planning intervention was originally developed and evaluated in Northern Ireland (UK). Family caregivers of nursing home residents with dementia received an educational booklet and a family care conference with a trained facilitator to discuss their relative's future care. Objectives to investigate whether upscaling the intervention adapted to local context and complemented by a question prompt list impacts family caregivers' uncertainty in decision-making and their satisfaction with care across six countries. Second, to investigate whether mySupport affects residents' hospitalisations and documented advance decisions. Design a pretest–posttest design. Setting in Canada, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands and the UK, two nursing homes participated. Participants in total, 88 family caregivers completed baseline, intervention and follow-up assessments. Methods family caregivers' scores on the Decisional Conflict Scale and Family Perceptions of Care Scale before and after the intervention were compared with linear mixed models. The number of documented advance decisions and residents' hospitalisations was obtained via chart review or reported by nursing home staff and compared between baseline and follow-up with McNemar tests. Results family caregivers reported less decision-making uncertainty (−9.6, 95% confidence interval: −13.3, −6.0, P  < 0.001) and more positive perceptions of care (+11.4, 95% confidence interval: 7.8, 15.0; P  < 0.001) after the intervention. The number of advance decisions to refuse treatment was significantly higher after the intervention (21 vs 16); the number of other advance decisions or hospitalisations was unchanged. Conclusions the mySupport intervention may be impactful in countries beyond the original setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Existing studies have explored the association between workplace training and wages suggesting that training participation may have a positive association with wages. However, we still know very little about whether this association varies between men and women. Through its potential positive association with wages, training may balance wage differences between men and women. In addition, the gender wage gap varies across the wage distribution. Differences in the association between training participation and wages for men and women across the earnings spectrum may offer an explanation as to why the discrepancy in female/male earnings is larger at some point of the wage distribution compared to others. Approach: Using data from the Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) and unconditional quantile regression, this paper examines whether the association between workplace training and wages differs between men and women at different points of the wage distribution across 14 European countries. To partly control for endogeneity in training participation, detailed measures of cognitive skills have been included in the models. Findings: Findings show gender differences in the association between training and wages across the wage distribution. In most countries, results indicate larger training coefficients for women than men at the lower end of the wage spectrum whereas they are larger for men at the top. This pattern holds across most countries with the only exception of Liberal ones, where women benefit less than men across the entire wage spectrum. Conclusions: The findings of this work reveal that distributional variations in returns to workplace training follow a similar pattern across industrialized countries, despite their different institutional settings. Moreover, differences in training coefficients of men and women at different parts of the wage distribution suggest that training could reduce gender wage differences among low earners and potentially widen the gap in wages among individuals at the top of the wage distribution.