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Information about the International Economic Association conference held in Palermo, Italy from September 2 to 9, 1964 is presented. The conference focused on the distribution of national income between social groups and income policy. Prof. Jean Marchal chaired the program committee and he was assisted by professors E. Preiser and Phelps Brown. A report about the history of distribution trends of several industrialized countries as well as countries with planned economies were tackled.

This article presents the news and announcements published in the May 1, 1959 issue of "International Social Science Journal." The Fourth World Political Science Congress held in Rome, Italy, in September 1958, was in every way a success, It was attended by more than 300 political scientists from some thirty European, Asian and American countries, most of the best experts in subjects dealt with took part in these discussions, over 70 working papers were submitted. A meeting was convened by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and cultural Organizations to examine the social, moral and cultural implication of the scientific and technological developments that were the occasion for the United Nations sessions.

The article presents a list of articles, books, etc., used in cross-referencing some general topics. The article 'Economic Survey of Asia and the Far East,' discuses the substitution of home produced for imported goods for home use and the addition of manufactured goods to the traditional basic commodity exports. It is also a thorough economic study of the ECAFK area's agriculture, industry, and trade. The article "Some Consequences of Segmentation in India," discuses such areas as modernization of customs and economy are considered to be affected by the fragmentation of India's society. The article "New Zealand: Denmark of the South Pacific," presents an economic survey including material on opportunities for selling and investing there by U. S. companies. The article "Politics of Change in Latin America," is a collection of 13 essays by historians, political scientists, economists, and anthropologists on social, economic and political conditions. The article "Focus on East Anglia," is a factual report on industrial conditions and new plants in a section of southeast England.

The article reports that the Italian National Information Institute attracted two cabinet ministers, an undersecretary, and one hundred foreign documentalists and an equal number of their countrymen to their International Conference on Training for Information Work that held at Rome, Italy during November 15-19, 1971. The Conference had been billed as being under the sponsorship of the International Federation for Documentation. It was clear from the conference's beginning that the Italian hosts hungered for recommendations to present to their governmental superiors.

In the article, the author provides information on an article titled "Sociology in Italy, as Viewed by an American," by A.M. Rose. According to the author, there is an evidence that Rose made a real effort to give a general survey of sociological studies in Italy, some of these statements made in the article are not in accordance with facts. The credit for introducing sociology into the official curricula in higher educational establishments is due to professor Corrado Gini who, in 1923, was entrusted with the task of preparing the curriculum for the School of Social Sciences in the University of Padna and subsequently the curriculum for the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Rome, where he held the chair at sociology until he retired.

This paper examines the hypothesis that members of the urban working class are significantly less involved (associationally) in the church than are members of other occupational strata. Using data from a national sample of adult, male. Catholic heads of households in Italy, a statistically significant but very weak positive relationship was discovered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section offers news briefs on the ecumenical movement. The 12th session of the Joint Working Group (JWG) between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches (WCR) met in Rome, Italy from May 29 to June 2, 1972. The West African Church Conference on Science, Technology, and the Future of Man and Society was held at the University of Ghana on March 24-30, 1972.

Focuses on petrographic examination of some Werfenian limestones of Dolomite region in northeastern Italy. Origin of granular texture of limestones; Characteristics of lower triassic formations of the Dolomites; Composition of basal Werfenian.

The article presents the history of science as well as its teaching. The history of science way back from the early nineteenth century has been briefly presented so as to imbibe scientific literacy. It started at the height of Napoleonic wars in 1813, when Humphry Davy, the English scientist who have won the Napoleon's prize for outstanding researches on galvanic electricity, has been allowed by Napoleon to visit scientific colleagues in France and to travel through southern France and Italy. The visit, as alleged by the present analysts, was considered as the inception of understanding towards the nature of science as well as the processes of scientific inquiry, as the history itself provides scientific insights applicable for current science teaching.

The article provides information on social conditions in Italy as viewed by the author, as of November 1, 1959. According to the author, professor Corrado Gini was the main influence in Italian sociology. Gini helped to repress potential sociologists and that his Società has always been a paper organization. On the other hand, the author calls attention to Gini's excellent achievements. The author is aware of Gini's international contacts and referred to them in his articles. According to the author, any reader of his article will recognize it was not his intention to denounce Gini, but to call attention to the diverse activities and developments in Italian sociology since 1950.

This article presents a more comprehensive view of Italian bookkeeping in the thirteenth century. The article endeavors to trace the lines of evolution from the surprisingly sophisticated ledger of 1211 to the emergence of double entry, or approximations to it, about 1300. The 1211 fragments are confined to debtors' accounts and combine the functions of borrowers' ledger and loans register. It have been observed that most surviving thirteenth-century Florentine ledgers related to domestic, rather than business, concerns. The art of bookkeeping was most highly developed among the bankers, merchants and clothworking firms of Florence. Their businesses showed a high degree of continuity from year to year and they were carried on by stable partnerships, who needed to ascertain and divide profits from time to time, as well as to record the drawings of each partner for deduction from his share.

The article presents a report of a seminar on "Social Science as a Transnational System," which was held at the Bellagio, Italy, Study and Conference Center of the Rockefeller Foundation from July 16 to 21, 1973. While initiative for holding the seminar was taken by Chadwick Alger of Ohio State University and Gene Lyons of Dartmouth College, participants were selected and the agenda was developed with the collaboration of scholars from many countries, including a number who were not able to be present at the seminar. In a similar spirit, the seminar had no sponsor, except the scholars collectively present. The report that follows attempts to report faithfully the key issues raised in the seminar, identifying the source of contributions wherever possible. This thematic report was developed from summaries of each session and written memoranda which participants contributed in elaboration of their oral interventions. The report is organized around the main themes of asymmetry and dependency, nationalism, ideology, pluralism and community. The authors expect the report to be viewed as the collective work of all participants.

The European Sleep Research Society (ESRS) will hold its Second Congress on Sleep Research from April 8th through 11th, 1974, at the Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Rome, Italy. For information and registration forms one can contact to: W. P. Koella, ESRS, Basel, Switzerland.

This article reports about the First International Congress of Parasitology, to be held by the World Federation of Parasitologists in September 1964 in Rome, Italy. The federation's meeting was held in Rome, Italy, during September 10-12th, 1962. It is reported that the Congress was open to all Parasitologists and Societies of Parasitology throughout the World and will be organized by an International Consultative Committee under the chairmanship of professor P.C.C. Garnham and by a Local Committee members.

On a recent research trip to Genoa, Italy the writer learned of the discovery of a marine policy dated February 13, 1343. This antedates by four and a half years the policy of October 23, 1347 which for over a half century has been generally accepted as the oldest recorded true insurance contract. These two contracts although worded fictitiously are significant in that they mark the first known break from the Mutuum Nauticum or marine loan. The marine loans which had been adequate in ancient and early medieval times could not fill the needs of the ‘sedentary merchants’ during the ‘Commercial Revolution.’ The fictitious wording was due to the need to cloak these contracts with the formulas and phraseology of Roman Law because insurance contracts per se had no legal existence or standing during this period. The clerical usury law and prohibitions further complicated the work of the notaries and lawyers in devising ways in which insurance transactions (and premium payments) could be carried out and recorded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors have investigated the possibility that the Ferrara type of β-thalassemia, in which β-globulin synthesis is absent, may be due to a nonsense mutation on the gene for β-globin. This hypothesis has been tested by trying to detect the presence of newly synthesized β-globin fragments in the reticulocytes of homozygous β-thalassemic subjects. The red blood cells were incubated with [3H]leucine. The whole hemolysate was hydrolyzed with trypsin and several β-chain peptides were isolated by column chromatography and assayed for radioactivity. No incorporation of radioactive leucine could be detected in the various β-globin peptides isolated and examined. The hypothesis that a nonsense mutation is responsible for the absence of β-globin synthesis in the Ferrara β-thalassemia is not supported by these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Sociologia Ruralis is the property of Wiley-Blackwell 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 Sociologia Ruralis is the property of Wiley-Blackwell 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.)

This article focuses on the growth registered by Italian lira in 1925. This growth represented a substantial upward revaluation of the average rate which the market had established during the previous four years and became the cornerstone of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini's economic policies after 1925. The article argues that Mussolini and his advisers understood the economics of the situation; they used a variety of economic policies to prepare the domestic economy for the revaluation. Furthermore, Mussolini was aware of the economic consequences of the Quota Novanta but was prepared to accept them because the political pay-off was large. Through an upward revaluation of the lira, Mussolini was able to gain prestige for his regime and to demonstrate his absolute authority in political matters. At the same time, it dispels any misconceptions that fascist economic policies were designed to destroy private enterprise in Italy. Mussolini and the leading industrialists and financiers were able to coexist in harmony once Mussolini's political authority was recognized.

The article focuses on the commercial development of Ancona, Italy between 1479 and 1551. The description of the changes that occurred in the commerce of Ancona is divided into three main periods. A base period, 1479-84, is first described and is then compared with two periods of the first half of the sixteenth century, 1500-27 and 1541-51. The first of these two latter periods is one of fairly rapid development whilst the second is one of consolidation of the earlier changes. Although overall there was very considerable commercial development in the city, this development seems to have had remarkably little effect on the basic economy of the city. Commercial development did not lead as it did elsewhere to much industrial and agricultural change, but was rather superimposed on an existing framework which probably remained similar in its outlines throughout. Ancona's contribution to trade outside the Adriatic consisted almost entirely of the dispatch of two or three ships each year to the eastern Mediterranean principally to Constantinople or Alexandria.

The article provides a comparative analysis between the environment and the structure of scrub communities in northern Cyrenaica's limestone plateaux. The three plateaux that are constituted as a result of a system of faults running parallel with the coast are situated as coastal plateau, plateau at about 800 feet altitude, and dissected plateau at about 2300 feet altitude. Compared to the coastal regions, the upper plateaux receive a higher rainfall with lower temperatures and humidity. The disappearance of the maritime element from the vegetation and the development of batha scrub were traced by a line-transecting from the sea to the top of the first escarpment slope. It infers that the redevelopment of a stable soil and vegetation lies upon the protection of the natural communities.

The article offers information on Colchicum autumnale L. It states that this is a perennial herb, the underground portion of which is an ovoid corm about 5 cm. in diameter covered with the dark brown remains of old leaves. It also mentions that in many localities this plant has been destroyed for it is identified to be poisonous to cattle. This plant is found in the south-east part of Ireland, particularly the Nore Valley in Kilkenny. It also grows in damp meadows and pastures in central Europe, east to Lithuania and Romania and south to north Italy and Spain.

The article presents a study on the relation between growth form and exposure on Monte Maiella in Italy. It forwards that previous studies have pointed that there exists a relationship between plant height and the roughness of the ground surface in this location. Among the plants which were discovered in this site include the medium herb, large tussock, woody mats, large rosette, prostate herb, and small rosettes. Various tables which show the species of plants, average height, and growth form are also presented.

The article presents the vegetation survey of the Southern part of the Swiss Valley located at the border of Switzerland and Italy along the north-west of Lago Maggiore. It highlights on the geographical configuration of the area such as sloping, elevations, mountain ranges and climate as well as dominant plants growing and soil characteristics. Accordingly, the area is covered with tress and shrubs, and dominant plants growing are chestnuts, beech, silver fir, spruce, larch, among others. Chestnuts are ranging from the ground up to 1000 meters elevation following pace ravine where they seek protections.

The Gm serum groups in man have been investigated serologically and genetically. Two populations have been studied. In Great Britain the frequency of the Gm (a+) phenotype is 60.98 per cent. In the Ferrara district of Italy the frequency is 40-18 per cent. Family studies in both populations support the hypothesis that the Gm (a+) phenotype is determined by a gene which is expressed in the heterozygote. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section offers news briefs relating to the activities of several churches as of January 1968. The celebration of the 450th anniversary of the Reformation in Wittenberg, German Democratic Reopublic (GDR) was marred by the refusal of the GDR government to issue visas to some participants. The sixth meeting of the joint working group of the Roman Catholic Church and tphe World Council of Churches was held in Assisi, Italy in December 1967.

Reconstructs the depositional environment of the gypsum-carbonate-shale sequence that comprises the Upper Permian Bellerophon Formation of the southeastern Alps in northern Italy. Two facies of the formation; Interpretation of the cyclic sequence.

The article offers information about the Agostino Gemelli Institute for the Study of the Social Problems of Visual Information in Italy. The institute was established on December 14, 1960 on the initiative of the Milan provincial authorities and the National Social Security and Welfare Centre. Their recent scientific work has cast off into relief serious human problems associated with the cinema and more generally with visual media of communication and information. Research projects of the institute and other significant information relative to the matter are presented.

Information about the symposium on the mentally abnormal offenders held on April 21-25, 1963 in Bellagio, Italy is presented. Four general reports formed the basis of the discussions in which some fifty delegates took part. The four reports include the "'The Criminal Behaviour of Mentally Abnormal Individuals," "Abnormal Offenders" "The Legal Status of Abnormal Offenders" and "'Penal Treatment for Mentally Abnormal Offenders.

The article focuses on the first Italian congress on the social sciences held at Milan at the beginning of June 1958. The two subjects selected were the relations between the various social sciences and their mutual interdependence, and problems of town and country were not best calculated to provide a basis for effective work. Indeed, both themes were obviously too broad to be discussed usefully in the course of a three-day congress, but the choice was upheld in spite of the drawbacks. The first subject-relations between the various social sciences was suggested by the experience of the Italian Social Science Association. Italian culture has always prided itself on its grounding in history and on the concrete nature of its methods research into precise historical situations, as against the abstractness of the naturalistic sciences. It has also raised history to the level of philosophy, this has led, firstly, to a great confusion of ideas and secondly, to banishing the social sciences completely, with the result that, in regard to many subjects and many fields of practical research, not only in sociology but in anthropology, ethnology. One subject frequently mentioned in the congress was the underlying unity, despite certain disparities, of the social sciences and the importance of closer co-ordination between them.

Over centuries there have been many important innovations in weaponry: the spear, the bow and arrow, the catapult and other siege machinery, the gun and the cannon, steam vessels and metal-hulled ships, the submarine and the aircraft. Each of these is credited with having revolutionized warfare, the nature of armies, and the relation between warring groups and between states. Yet it seems that at no time, man has his political organization and the affairs between states been so heavily influenced, if not guided, by military technology, by weapons of war, as in years since the end of the Second World War. Long ago Archimedes in Syracuse and Leonardo da Vinci in Northern Italy told their respective cities and princes to provide funds with which to pursue science and they will be available in time of war to prepare machines, to design canals and fortifications, and devices to destroy fleets. Nevertheless the relations between scientific research as it is presently understood and technology are of much more recent origin, and until quite recently more often than not science has followed technology. The relations are complex and feed in both directions.

This article will examine certain aspects of foreign private investment and will evaluate its contribution to the solution of Italy's main economic problems. By the end of 1963 foreigners had invested in Italy a total of $340.9 million under the February, 1956, law. From the beginning this capital inflow showed a marked tendency to be distributed very unevenly among the Italian regions. During 1956-63 one region, Lombardy, received nearly 42 per cent of the foreign capital accruing to the whole country. Nearly two-thirds of the total direct investment made by foreigners between 1956 and 1963 was concentrated in three industries: the chemical-pharmaceutical, the petroleum, and the metallurgical-mechanical. The first two, however, became relatively less important with the passage of time. Although the 1960-63 statistics do not give this distribution of foreign investment cross-classified by region and economic sector, it is reasonable to suppose that the same broad locational characteristics of foreign capital prevailed and that its drying up or increase in certain economic sectors led to the relative loss or gain of capital in the various regions.

The article is a case study conducted on the decline of the Roman empire in the west, and the role played by landlords in it. According to these investigations, the decline was due to the weakening of the state, to the point that it could not withstand the German invasions. Giving reasons for it, article says that either the Gallo-Ronjans were too weak to offer effective resistance, or they did not see sufficient reason to do so. The first answer is impossible, and the alternative answer is correct one, presenting several questions at once. One of the reasons listed is an uprising of the depressed segment of the society. Another source of danger was the state itself. As the conclusion for the study, the article lists reasons due to which the senatorials did not rise against the invaders, saying that because they did not see in them a threat to their position and accommodation was less dangerous than fighting them with prospects of devastation and less risky than giving the state a large force which, after being used to check the invaders, might be turned against them. It further informs about the division of Gaul into four division as a result of fall of Roman empire and sums that the interests of the large landholders were at the bottom of the entry of the Germans, the "fall" of the Roman empire in the west, the "expansion" of the Franks, and, in a word, the inception of the medieval social and political order.

The article analyzes factors which affect economic structure and its development. The factors on which production of the country depends are discussed and gives three variables, the technology available, institutional framework and the structural relationship that exists among that country's population, resources, and technology. The article author says that by modifying any one of these variables, the other two remaining constant, the national product of a society can be increased or decreased. The agrarian reform in Italy are discussed in this regard. It further mentions that the institutionalists, from whom the theory expounded above is derived, until recently, approached the problem of production and development as a function of only two variables, technology, the driving force and institutions, the retarding force. Problem of unemployment in Italy and its possible solution is discussed here in this regard. The importance of "appropriateness" of raw material to the existing population and technology, with its drawbacks has been discussed in detail. The article concludes with the view that when viewed in the light of the theoretical framework presented, the problems connected with economic development become much clearer and it is possible to conclude that increases in a country's production of goods and services can be obtained in three ways, by altering the existing institutional framework, or by introducing new and better techniques or by modifying the quantitative relationships among that country's population, resources, and technology.

The article focuses on the politics of the Italian land reform. The author states that the results of the 1953 Italian elections were disappointing. The most disturbing fact was the tremendous growth of Communism and Neo-Fascism. Americans took it too much for granted that, if the growth of Communism were checked, people would automatically vote for Christian Democrats. Italy has snapped out of postwar depression and with considerable American push has reached a stage of mild prosperity. The Italian masses saw things otherwise. The Communists think too little has been done. The local administrators, influenced by the aristocracy, permitted many of the holdings to remain under the control of great landlords. Such land as peasants did acquire was in many instances soon lost because of lack of capital. The land thus passed back to the old aristocracy or into the hands of urban proprietors. Absentee owners continued to rule the South and hold the peasantry in economic and political subjection, in poverty, and in ignorance.

The article reports on various theories of land reforms. Economic determinism is so widely identified with Marxian socialism that it is seldom remembered now that there are, or have been, other varieties. It is, however, possible to interpret social phenomena by way of agricultural economics and agricultural history. Achille Loria was born March 2, 1857 at Mantua, Italy. He studied jurisprudence at Bologna, receiving his L.L.D. in 1877, at the age of twenty. He studied political economy at Pavia with Professor Cosca and statistics at Rome with Professor Messadaglia. Later he was sent abroad by the Italian Government to pursue advanced economics at Berlin with Wagner, Engels, Meitzen, and especially the study of scientific materials in the British Museum. Loria's social theory has a persistent and thorough-going reference to the land and to the landed estates of his time. The predominance of the latter in Italy dates from the destruction of the feudal system in that country about the thirteenth century.

A contribution is made to the growing literature on cross-cultural studies of social stratification by an empirical study of the stratification system in an Italian rural community. The findings indicate that similar methods and techniques used for American and Italian societies reveal stratification systems common to both societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article looks into the funding involved in land reform programs of developing countries. The net cost for land reform depends upon the relationship between receipts from and costs of the land reform. The mortgage payments from the new landowners and the increased taxes collected furnish income to offset the land reform expense. The costs of land reform include compensating former landowners and those expenditures that have to be made in land redistribution, such as surveying and subdividing large landholdings. A large part of land reform will fall on the government budget as has been shown in Venezuela. There, during the first year that land reform was undertaken on a large scale, 1960, the cost of land acquisition was about $33 million, with anticipated outlays through 1964 of almost $300 million for land distribution. In Italy, during the period 1949 to 1950 through 1962 to 1963, total commitments were $1.1 billion. Of this, $200 million was recovered from new landowners. The indemnities to the expropriated landowners amounted to only $84 million, considerably less than 10 percent of the total. The land tax system in most developing countries is a testimonial to the protection of vested, antisocial interests. Assessments on agricultural land are unrealistically low, producing absurdly low taxes. Negligence in tax collection is widespread.

The article reports that after World War II, Enrico Mattei, a man of modest origins who had distinguished himself as a resistance fighter, took over AGIP, the ailing Italian government petroleum company, charged with liquidating it. In 1962, he was killed in a plane crash leaving behind ENI, a multi-million-dollar public corporation with major operations, not only in oil and gas but also in such remote fields as textiles. There are many facets to the ENI-Mattei history but just a few features stand out as the heart of the story. Underlying everything was Mattei himself, a man who was a far cry from the typical public servant, more in tie class of the Nineteenth Century Robber Barons-determined, driving, ruthless. He alone ran ENI. Once he had established his position, he accepted virtually no control from above. His position rested upon two factors. First, the discovery of major natural gas reserves in the Po valley in the late 40's. Through its monopoly control over this cheap resource ENI accumulated large financial resources, which it used for, assorted other ventures, many of doubtful success. Second, Mattei was a master of public relations techniques.

The article presents information on the 18th international conference of documentation in Rome, Italy. The conference drew an unexpectedly large attendance of approximately 400 at its meeting. An inaugural session with addresses of welcome and response was held in the Capitol, Rome. Exhibits, with about seventy-five participants from industry, were open throughout the week. They were interesting and well displayed, and were probably visited at least once by every member of the conference. Most of the exhibitors were European manufacturers of apparatus, machines and devices.

The article presents information on various international course and seminar on the use of mass communication media, as of November 1, 1960. The Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Italy, where Italian Government has set up the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization-sponsored Center of Sociological Research on the use of audio-visual media, organized from March 13 to 26, 1960 an international sociological study course and seminar on the use of mass communication media, in conjunction with Milan Office of the United States Information Service. Participants were students and doctors from faculties of political science, political economy and commerce, law, letters and philosophy and pedagogies of all Italian universities, selected on their qualifications by a committee under the chairmanship Catholic University professor Francesco Vito. After analyzing the economic and cultural factors on which the dissemination of mass communication media depends, Vito discussed the various concepts that are being worked out by thinkers in the U.S. and continental Europe, particularly Italy.

The article questions that is the United States being priced out of the world market. Since much public discussion has been carried on without objective analysis, some pertinent facts are presented. The index of export prices for the United States rose from 100 in the base year 1953 to 106 in 1959. All other countries except Great Britain and Canada experienced a steady growth with particularly sharp rises in 1959. Japan with a 1959 index of 280, Germany with 198 and Italy with 182 was especially outstanding. Assuming that exports have decreased because the prices in the U.S. have risen relative to foreign prices, the causes can be many. Between 1953 and June 1959 the index of U.S. wage rates rose from 100 to 127 while indices of all other major countries showed equal or greater rises. With various forms of government intervention such as subsidies, tariffs and quotas, materials are becoming more costly. High prices may also result from large overhead or insistence on high return on capital.

Highlights the 8th National Congress of Italian Nurses Association in Florence, Italy.