scholarly journals How political choices shaped Covid connectivity: The Italian case study

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. e0261041
Author(s):  
Enrico Amico ◽  
Iulia Martina Bulai
Keyword(s):  
Structural Constraints ◽  
Italian Case ◽  
Italian Government ◽  
Italian Regions ◽  
Central Regions ◽  
Political Choices ◽  
New Methodologies ◽  
Second Wave ◽  
Political Decisions

The importance of implementing new methodologies to study the ever-increasing amount of Covid-19 data is apparent. The aftermath analysis of these data could inform us on how specific political decisions influenced the dynamics of the pandemic outbreak. In this paper we use the Italian outbreak as a case study, to study six different Covid indicators collected in twenty Italian regions. We define a new object, the Covidome, to investigate the network of functional Covid interactions between regions. We analyzed the Italian Covidome over the course of 2020, and found that Covid connectivity between regions follows a sharp North-South community gradient. Furthermore, we explored the Covidome dynamics and individuated differences in regional Covid connectivity between the first and second waves of the pandemic. These differences can be associated to the two different lockdown strategies adopted for the first and the second wave from the Italian government. Finally, we explored to what extent Covid connectivity was associated with the Italian geographical network, and found that Central regions were more tied to the structural constraints than Northern or Southern regions in the spread of the virus. We hope that this approach will be useful in gaining new insights on how political choices shaped Covid dynamics across nations.

Income Inequality and Crime: An Empirical Analysis of the Italian Case

2011 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-122
Author(s):  
Caterina Astarita
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Relevant Literature ◽  
Dynamic Panel Data ◽  
Inequality Measures ◽  
Italian Case ◽  
Italian Regions ◽  
Empirical Perspective ◽  
Independent Variable ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract This paper examines the relationship between income inequality and crime from an empirical perspective referring to Italy as a case study. Both static and dynamic panel data techniques are applied to a dataset drawn from 19 Italian regions for the period 1980-2004. As the key independent variable selected is the Gini index, further inequality measures are used for checking the robustness of the results. The econometric exercises suggest a negative link between inequality and crime. The finding, infrequently recognized in the relevant literature, can be supported by some broad explanations as well as by some peculiarities of the Italian case.

scholarly journals Pattern regionali e demografici del Covid-19 durante la prima ondata pandemica in Italia. Proposta di uno studio pilota per l’applicazione della metodologia shift-share alla dinamica delle infezioni

2021 ◽  
pp. 25-38
Author(s):  
Francesca Silvia Rota ◽  
Marco Bagliani ◽  
Paolo Feletig
Keyword(s):  
Age Distribution ◽  
Age Groups ◽  
Growth Dynamics ◽  
Local Effect ◽  
Significant Heterogeneity ◽  
Regional Patterns ◽  
Italian Case ◽  
Regional Dynamics ◽  
Italian Regions

The paper presents the experimental attempt to apply the shift-share decomposition technique, mainly used in the economic field to analyse regional differentials, to the growth dynamics of infections during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through a partial readjustment of the initial formulations of this technique, the regional patterns of the spread of the infections in Italy are analysed, taking into account the influence exercised by the demographic characteristics (age composition) of the region. In this reformulation, the shift-share analysis (SSA) allows to break down the daily variation of COVID-19 cases according to four effects resulting from: the distribution of the population by age groups (measured through the demographic and allocative effects), the tendency of the regional dynamics to follow the trend of the nation (measured by the national effect) and the rising of specific local dynamics (measured by the local effect). The application of our proposed reformulation studies the diffusion of infections in the Italian regions between March 9 and May 20, 2020, highlighting strengths and weaknesses of the methodology, offering ideas for further development and refinements to use SSA for applications in extra-economic realms (demographic, epidemiologic etc.), fruitfully. For example, the choice of the Italian case study was detrimental to the quality of the results obtained, since in Italy the population’s age distribution tends to be similar. For this reason, at the end of our study, it is suggested the opportunity to test the robustness of the proposed method using as case study other European nations (for example, France, Spain or Germany) characterised by more significant heterogeneity of the regional population than Italy.

scholarly journals Hegemonic Distortions: The Securitisation of the Insurgency in Thailand's Deep South

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-232
Author(s):  
Nicole Jenne ◽  
Jun Yan Chang
Keyword(s):  
External Environment ◽  
Southeast Asian ◽  
Deep South ◽  
Internal Security ◽  
Current Period ◽  
Security Challenges ◽  
Islamist Terrorism ◽  
Political Decisions

AbstractThe conflict between the Thai state and the Malay-Muslim insurgency in the country's Deep South is one of Southeast Asia's most persistent internal security challenges. The start of the current period of violence dates back to the early 2000s, and since then, a significant number of studies exploring the renewed escalation have been published. In this study, we argue that existing scholarship has not adequately accounted for the external environment in which political decisions were taken on how to deal with the southern insurgency. We seek to show how the internationally dominant, hegemonic security agenda of so-called non-traditional security (NTS) influenced the Thai government's approach to the conflict. Building upon the Copenhagen School's securitisation theory, we show how the insurgency became securitised under the dominant NTS narrative, leading to the adoption of harsh measures and alienating discourses that triggered the escalation of violence that continues today. The specific NTS frameworks that ‘distorted’ the Thai state's approach of one that had been informed solely by local facts and conditions were those of anti-narcotics and Islamist terrorism, albeit in different ways. Based on the findings from the case study, the article concludes with a reflection on the role of the hegemonic NTS agenda and its implications for Southeast Asian politics and scholarship.

scholarly journals Investigations on historical monuments’ deterioration through chemical and isotopic analyses: an Italian case study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Ricciardi ◽  
Concetta Pironti ◽  
Oriana Motta ◽  
Rosa Fiorillo ◽  
Federica Camin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Potassium Nitrate ◽  
Sewage Water ◽  
X Ray Diffraction ◽  
Italian Case ◽  
Historical Monuments ◽  
Isotopic Analyses ◽  
Historic Centre ◽  
The Church

AbstractIn this paper, we analysed the efflorescences present in the frescos of a monumental complex named S. Pietro a Corte situated in the historic centre of Salerno (Campania, Italy). The groundwater of the historic centre is fed by two important streams (the Rafastia and the Fusandola) that can be the sources of water penetration. The aims of this work are to (i) identify the stream that reaches the ancient frigidarium of S. Pietro a Corte and (ii) characterize the efflorescences on damaged frescos in terms of chemical nature and sources. In order to accomplish the first aim, the water of the Rafastia river (7 samples) and the water of the Fusandola river (7 samples) were analysed and compared with the water of a well of the Church (7 samples). The ionic chromatography measurements on the water samples allowed us to identify the Rafastia as the river that feeds the ancient frigidarium of S. Pietro a Corte. To investigate the nature and the origin of the efflorescences (our second aim), anionic chromatography analyses, X-ray diffraction measurements, and the isotopic determination of nitrogen were performed on the efflorescences (9 samples) and the salts recovered from the well (6 samples). Results of these analyses show that efflorescences are mainly made of potassium nitrate with a δ15N value of + 9.3 ± 0.2‰. Consequently, a plausible explanation for their formation could be the permeation of sewage water on the walls of the monumental complex.

Habemus Corpora: Reapproaching Philological Problems in the Age of ‘Big’ Data

2021 ◽  
Vol 139 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-127
Author(s):  
Mark Faulkner
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
Old English ◽  
English Language ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
British Library ◽  
New Techniques ◽  
Major Task ◽  
New Methodologies ◽  
Primary Focus

Abstract This paper demonstrates the potential of new methodologies for using existing corpora of medieval English to better contextualise linguistic variants, a major task of philology and a key underpinning of our ability to answer major literary-historical questions, such as when, where and to what purpose medieval texts and manuscripts were produced. The primary focus of the article is the assistance these methods can offer in dating the composition of texts, which it illustrates with a case study of the “Old” English Life of St Neot, uniquely preserved in the mid-twelfth-century South-Eastern homiliary, London, British Library, Cotton Vespasian D.xiv, fols. 4–169. While the Life has recently been dated around 1100, examining its orthography, lexis, syntax and style alongside that of all other English-language texts surviving from before 1150 using new techniques for searching the Dictionary of Old English Corpus suggests it is very unlikely to be this late. The article closes with some reflections on what book-historical research should prioritise as it further evolves into the digital age.

scholarly journals Debate on online social networks at the time of COVID-19: An Italian case study

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 100136
Author(s):  
Martino Trevisan ◽  
Luca Vassio ◽  
Danilo Giordano
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Online Social Networks ◽  
Italian Case

scholarly journals Consumer acceptance of Italian or New Zealander lamb meat: an Italian case study

2009 ◽  
Vol 8 (sup2) ◽  
pp. 528-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariano Pauselli ◽  
Luciano Morbidini ◽  
Emiliano Lasagna ◽  
Vincenzo Landi ◽  
Roberto Giangrande
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Acceptance ◽  
Italian Case ◽  
Lamb Meat

Probing the Police in the Past: An Italian Case Study

1988 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 21-40
Author(s):  
S. C. Hughes
Keyword(s):  
The Past ◽  
Italian Case

The Regional Consequences of the Japanese Second Wave: A Case Study

1995 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Max Munday
Keyword(s):  
Local Economy ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Second Wave

Outline This paper examines the Japanese “second wave” sector in the local economy. Following an examination of the development of the second wave Japanese-owned supplier sector in the UK, the paper assesses the role of this sector in the local economy, and questions the policy rationale of attracting this particular type of inward investment.

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