Unaccompanied Migrant Adolescents in the Italian Context: Tailored Educational Interventions and Acculturation Stress

The migration experience is normally associated with acculturative stress; this condition assumes relevance when the migrant is a minor alone. The aim of this study was to explore perceptions about the migration process and educational interventions offered by host-community social workers. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 unaccompanied migrant adolescents that had finished their educational pathways in the traditional community centers. Interview results were analyzed using NVivo 9, based on the grounded theory. The main results of the study are related to the incompatibility between the educational intervention of host communities and minors’ projects and motivations.     

The Representation of Laji’een (Refugees) and Muhajireen (Migrants) in the Headlines of Jordan News Agency (PETRA)

International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue internationale de Sémiotique juridique - This paper explores the representation of Laji’een (Refugees) and Muhajireen (Migrants) in...     

Juvenile sex offenders: a complex population

Individuals who engage in sexual offending behavior represent a heterogeneous population. Recent research has found some success in categorizing sexual offenders based on a number of variables, particularly the type of victim. For example, differences have been found between those offenders who victimize adults when compared with those who victimize children. However, the research in this area has been conducted predominantly with adult samples. As the adult sex offender literature has progressed, it has become evident that risk assessment, treatment effectiveness, and risk management are dependent on such offender characteristics. Unfortunately, the relevance to juveniles of characteristics deemed to be important with adult sex offenders is limited due to the complexity of developmental processes, particularly with respect to mental disorders and personality formation. As such, the formulation and implementation of treatment and risk management strategies that will be effective with juvenile sex offenders are challenging. The goal of this paper is to review some of the complexities inherent in the juvenile sex offender population by focusing on specific areas of complication, including: classification systems, comorbid paraphilias and other mental illnesses, and maladaptive personality traits.     

Organizing the Federal System for Homeland Security: Problems, Issues, and Dilemmas

Improving the capacity of U.S. governments to provide greater homeland security will require numerous changes in the way federal, state, and local governments are organized and operate. It also will require significant alterations in intergovernmental relations. Changes will be required in intergovernmental dimensions, including operational, financial, legal, and political dimensions. A dual–track approach to rearranging intergovernmental relationships in order to provide a coordinated intergovernmental response to the requirements of homeland security is to be expected.     

Evaluating provincial budgetary policy

Abstract: This paper reviews the period 1965-84, providing an analysis of the contribution of provincial budgets to regional stabilization and the impact of budgets on the financial position of provincial governments. The perversity hypothesis, which proposes that provincial budgetary behaviour may serve to exacerbate rather than reduce cyclical swings in local economies, is examined. An effort is made to differentiate between the automatic and discretionary components of provincial budgets, by calculating cyclically and inflation-adjusted revenues, expenditures and budget balances. A budget balance analysis arrives at the following conclusions: the behaviour of provincial budgets, including both automatic and discretionary components, was stabilizing, for the most part, during the study period; however, in most cases, discretionary budgetary policy was perverse. A regression analysis arrives at the following conclusions: in Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, both revenue and expenditure policy demonstrated neutral cyclical behaviour during the study period; in Nova Scotia and British Columbia, destabilizing expenditure-side behaviour offset stabilizing revenue-side behaviour, while in Quebec, Ontario and Alberta, stabilizing expenditure changes may have dominated destabilizing revenue changes; in Nova Scotia and Manitoba, the long-run rate of expenditure growth exceeded the rate of revenue growth, suggesting a possible structural deficit problem, while the other provinces appear to have exercised greater financial control; and provincial expenditure policy was affected by the electoral cycle, while revenue policy appears to have been unaffected. It is expected that provincial involvement in cyclical regulation will be limited in the immediate future and that the provinces will take further steps to shore up their finances, following the stresses that were imposed on their budgets by the last recession. Sommaire: Cet article passe en revue la période 1965–1984 et analyse le rôle des budgets provinciaux dans la stabilisation régionale et leur impact sur la situation financière des gouvernements provinciaux. Les auteurs examinent l'hypothèse de l‘“effet pervers” selon lequel la politique budgétaire provinciale accentuerait les revirements cycliques de l’économie locale au lieu de les atténuer. Ils tentent de faire la distinction entre les éléments automatiques et discrétionnaires des budgets provinciaux en calculant les recettes, les dépenses et les soldes budgétaires ajustés en tenant compte de leur aspect cyclique et de l'inflation. Une analyse du solde budgétaire mène aux conclusions suivantes: les budgets provinciaux, et leurs éléments automatiques et discrétionnaires, ont eu en général un effet stabilisateur pendant la période étudiée; cependant, dans la plupart des cas, la politique budgétaire discrétionnaire a eu un effet pervers. Une analyse de régression mène aux constatations suivantes: à Terre-Neuve, au Nouveau-Brunswick, au Manitoba et en Saskatchewan, les politiques de recettes et de dépenses ont eu un effet cyclique neutre pendant la période étudiée; en Nouvelle-Écosse et en Colombie-Britannique, l'effet déstabilisateur des dépenses a annulé l'effet stabilisateur des recettes, tandis qu'au Québec, en Ontario et en Alberta, il semble que les changements stabilisateurs dans les dépenses aient dominé les changements déstabilisateurs dans les recettes; en Nouvelle-Écosse et au Manitoba, le taux de croissance à long terme des dépenses a été supérieur au taux de croissance des recettes, ce qui est peut-être le signe d'un problème de déficit structurel, bien que les autres provinces semblent exercer un plus grand contrôle financier; la politique provinciale de dépenses a subi les contrecoups du cycle électoral alors que la politique de recettes ne semble pas avoir été touchée. On prévoit que l'intervention provinciale dans la règlementation cyclique sera limitée dans un proche avenir et que les provinces prendront de nouvelles mesures pour consolider leurs finances, suite aux contraintes budgétaires que la dernière récession leur a imposée.     

Strategic port classification: International clustering‐based approach for decision‐making optimization

This comprehensive study aims to identify from a strategic perspective a new port classification approach based on port features and characteristics. Data of 3,685 ports worldwide have been collected, and 25 dimensions with 62 factors have been identified and utilized to analyze and classify ports worldwide. The K‐means clustering technique has been utilized to conduct the port classification process at several levels. First, ports have been classified into two general clusters (low capabilities and moderate‐to‐high capabilities). Then only ports with moderate‐to‐high potentials were classified and taxonomized. In addition to identifying and classifying ports with moderate‐to‐high capabilities, findings of the second round demonstrate the existence of three main clusters. The new port classification has been used to provide new insights about the top 50 terminal ports as a real case study. This innovative approach is valuable for most port‐related decision‐making situations and facilitates the global supply chain management processes.