Urban commons and freedom of movement The housing struggles of recently arrived migrants in Rome

ABSTRACT

The arrival of migrants on Italian coasts following the so-called Arab Spring in 2011 has led to a multiplication of housing struggles. These struggles are widespread across the country and focus on the occupation of abandoned buildings and their transformation into collective housing spaces to provide an alternative to the formal reception system. This article will focus on the housing struggles in Rome, as the place with the highest number of occupations and the longest tradition of campaigns for the right to housing of migrants in the country. These struggles are the outcome of the encounter of recently arrived migrants with local solidarity movements and build on existing occupation movements and housing struggles. The article explores how the mobilizations over the right to housing intersect with issues such as the social appropriation of urban commons, the regeneration from below of unused areas, freedom of movement, and the contestation of Italian government policies on the relocation of migrants and refugees. The paper argues that housing struggles not only appropriate and regenerate urban commons, but also challenge the reception governance of migration and the policies of border control.     

Risk assessment in offenders with mental disorders: relative efficacy of personal demographic, criminal history, and clinical variables

Following the meta-analysis by Bonta, Law, and Hanson, (1998) this study examined the ability of personal demographic, criminal history, and clinical variables to predict reoffending in offenders in the United Kingdom who had mental disorders. The efficacy of each variable in predicting rate of general reoffending and violent reoffending was investigated. Age on admission, number of days hospitalized, and number of previous offenses were the most effective variables in predicting re-offending, with number of previous offenses being the strongest predictor. Clinical diagnosis was not predictive of reoffending when the variance attributable to these other predictors was controlled for. None of the variables were able to discriminate between general offenders and violent offenders indicating that the same variables predict both types of reoffending. The results showed that reconviction in offenders with mental disorders can be predicted using the same criminogenic variables that are predictive in offenders without mental disorders.     

Long-Term Effects of Homophobic Stigmatization During Adolescence on Problem Behavior in Emerging Adult Offspring of Lesbian Parents

Journal of Youth and Adolescence - The long-term impact of homophobic stigmatization on adolescents with lesbian parents has not been explored. This longitudinal study investigated the effects of...     

The effect of feeding enrichment upon reported working ability and behavior of kenneled working dogs

It is widely recommended that kenneled dogs are provided with environmental enrichment such as toys or feeding devices. However, the adoption of enrichment for military working dogs is impeded by a widespread belief that it reduces their motivation to work. Handlers of 22 working German Shepherd dogs were asked to rate their dogs on 11 attributes pertaining to working ability, related behavioral traits, and health. Eight of the dogs were then provided with daily feeding enrichment for 4 months, while the remainder were given equivalent human attention. The same 11 traits were scored again following the enrichment period: 10 changed little over the period while handlers' reports of their dogs' Ability to learn from being rewarded increased significantly. Changes for all attributes were virtually identical in enriched and control dogs. We conclude that if correctly managed, feeding enrichment can be introduced to kenneled working dogs without any reported detrimental effects upon working ability, health, or behavior.     

Off-label Paediatric Drug Use for Juvenile Depression and the Clinical Trial Regulations 2004: The Impact of Available Protective Mechanisms

Across Europe, around one in four adults experience a mental health problem in any 1 year. It is estimated that 2–6% of children and adolescents suffer from depression and suicide is now the third leading cause of death in 10–19 year olds. Despite traditional Freudian teachings that children rarely suffer from clinically diagnosed depression, treatment figures for juvenile depression have soared in recent years. For adults, the current treatment trend, as advocated by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE), is the use of Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), such as Prozac. For children, efficacy of such treatment remains difficult to judge as all SSRI use in paediatric care remains ‘off-label’ or unlicensed. Notwithstanding this, in 2006 the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) advocated the use of Prozac within the EU for children from the age of eight, a position that reinforced the stance adopted by NICE in 2005. These recommendations have been made despite growing concern that many SSRIs have some serious side effects. In new legislation for paediatric medicines, that came into effect on 26th January 2007, the European Union (EU) has attempted to address several unresolved issues relating to children’s needs for medicines in Europe. This paper considers the position of off-label drug-therapy for juvenile depression, and assesses the effectiveness of available legal mechanisms that can protect juveniles from harm when involved in clinical drug trials, most notably the Clinical Trial Regulations 2004. It further reviews the new EU legislation and evaluates its likely impact.

Psychopathy among prisoners in England and Wales

Most research into psychopathy among prisoners is based on selected samples. It remains unclear whether prevalences are lower among European populations. This study aimed to measure the prevalence of psychopathy, and the distribution and correlates of psychopathic traits in a representative national sample of prisoners. Psychopathy was measured using the revised Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R) in a second stage, cross-sectional survey of prisoners in England and Wales in 1997 (n = 496). Poisson regression analysis was carried out to examine independent associations between correlates and PCL-R total and factor scores. The prevalence of categorically diagnosed psychopathy at a cut off of 30 was 7.7% (95%CI 5.2–10.9) in men and 1.9% (95%CI 0.2–6.9) in women. Psychopathic traits were less prevalent among women. They were correlated with younger age, repeated imprisonment, detention in higher security, disciplinary infractions, antisocial, narcissistic, histrionic, and schizoid personality disorders, and substance misuse, but not neurotic disorders or schizophrenia. The study concluded that psychopathy and psychopathic traits are prevalent among male prisoners in England and Wales but lower than in most previous studies using selected samples. However, most correlates with psychopathic traits were similar to other studies. Psychopathy identifies the extreme of a spectrum of social and behavioral problems among prisoners.     

Infrastructure Provision on the Margins: An Assessment of Broadband Delivery UK

ABSTRACT

Many governments have recognised the socio-economic importance of broadband. The market often provides a broadband connection but when this does not occur governments have stepped in. Through focusing on one government intervention, Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK) in the UK, this paper highlights the cost of providing broadband connections to areas unserved by the market. The difficulty of assessing demand in such areas is illustrated, as is how the lack of transparency complicates any assessment of the value for money.     

The Gender Logics of Resistance to the ‘War on Terror’: constructing sex–gender difference through the erasure of patriarchy in the Middle East

Abstract

This article asks, ‘How are femininities constructed in resisting the “war on terror” and with what implications for women's agency and the conceptualisation of gender?’ It examines the under-studied gender logics of non-violent resistance to the ‘war on terror’ by focusing on a series of conferences held in Cairo, between 2002 and 2008, uniting opposition to imperialism, Zionism, neoliberalism and dictatorship. Whereas much feminist scholarship conceptualises sex–gender difference within patriarchy as the major source of women's subordination, women speakers at the Cairo conferences erased patriarchy as a source of subordination and valorised sex–gender difference as a source of agency in resisting the ‘war on terror’. Femininities were constructed against the dominant narratives and practices of the war on terror through the representation of national/religious or class differences. These ‘resistance femininities’ represent strategically essentialised identities that function to bridge differences and mobilise women against the ‘war on terror’.     

Reforming New Zealand's health care system

In common with many OECD countries, New Zealand has been engaged in a process of reforming the nation's health care system. In New Zealand's case the reforms have been particularly far reaching and effected within a remarkably short time frame. In 1991 the policy framework was made public, and the legislation to underpin the changes enacted in 1993. Shadow bureaucracies anticipating the reforms were set up as early as 1991, however, thus allowing for the changes to be effected in advance of legislation. Thus in the space of a few years, the social security model of health care, which had been in place for over half a century, was transformed into a system characterised by managed competition. This article begins by briefly describing the social security model of health care, and its inherent problems. I go on to analyze the reforms, focusing on the problems of the previous system that the reforms were intended to address. The major planks of the new system are identified, namely the separation of purchasing of health services from provision and creating a competitive market; the distinction between “personal” and “population” health services; establishment of a core of services to which all citizens are entitled; and the integration and capping of funding for health services, and increasing cost-sharing. Of these policies, only the separation of purchasing and provision of health care and the integration of funding for health services have to date been fully implemented, the remainder having been delayed, modified or abandoned. The health care system has arguably been only partially reformed, therefore.     

Analysis and Evolution of the Global Jihadist Movement Propaganda

The Global Jihadist Movement (GJM) has a series of well-defined objectives, which constitute the central points of their ideology. In the realization of these goals, propaganda and public communication play a central role. This article studies the evolution of the principal characteristics of GJM propaganda, analyzing over 2,000 documents issued by the GJM between 1996 and 2005.