Search results for "PEOPLE"

The genetic history of Europeans.

2012

The evolutionary history of modern humans is characterized by numerous migrations driven by environmental change, population pressures, and cultural innovations. In Europe, the events most widely considered to have had a major impact on patterns of genetic diversity are the initial colonization of the continent by anatomically modern humans (AMH), the last glacial maximum, and the Neolithic transition. For some decades it was assumed that the geographical structuring of genetic diversity within Europe was mainly the result of gene flow during and soon after the Neolithic transition, but recent advances in next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, computer simulation modeling, and ancie…

Assistive robotic walker parameter identification for estimation of human thrust without force sensors

2017

In this paper we propose a parameter identification procedure for the wheel-motor dynamic of a robotic walker, i.e. a commercial trolley for elderly people endowed with cognitive, sensing and guidance capabilities. The objective of the wheel-motor dynamic model is to generate a suitable time reference to be used in an estimation algorithm. The ultimate goal of the estimation algorithm is to retrieve the thrust, i.e. torque and force, that the older adult user of the robotic walker applies to the platform. These quantities are of paramount importance in order to adopt intelligent and comfortable walker guidance algorithms. The novelty of this approach is the avoidance of additional costly se…

Planning Research ‘with’ Minorities in Palermo: Negotiating Ethics and Commitments in a Participatory Process

2008

The paper will explore some ethical issues which arise when undertaking research with minorities (ethnic groups, children, poor people) in the context of an uncollaborative planning process, like the Palermo Local Agenda 21. There are important ethical issues that have to be carefully considered when undertaking research with people, particularly when these people are marginalised or excluded by wider society. Here, issues of powerlessness and vulnerability abound. If this is accepted, some questions arise. How are we supposed to consider planning researchers – understood as immersed in the policy process – as moral/political agents, given their political commitments? Here there are both ge…

Family caregivers’ involvement in caring for frail older family members using welfare technology: a qualitative study of home care in transition

2022

Abstract Background Demographic, economic and organisational changes challenge home care services. Increased use of welfare technology and involvement of family members as co-producers of care are political initiatives to meet these challenges. However, these initiatives also involve ethical aspects. Method The aim of this qualitative study was to explore family caregivers’ experience of involvement and possible ethical aspects of caring for frail older family members receiving home care services supported by welfare technology. This study used a qualitative explorative and descriptive design within a phenomenological-hermeneutical approach. Sixteen interviews with eighteen family caregiver…

Contemporary Anti-Gypsyism in European Mass Media

2014

This paper focuses on the contemporary phenomenon of Anti-Gypsyism which diffused widely throughout social representations of the so called “Gypsies”. In Europe and especially in Italy, the media tends to reproduce racist stereotypes and prejudices through a xenophobic depiction of this ethnic group, often offering an ethnocentric point of view. From an anthropological perspective, Roma people are a minority group facing diasporic phenomena across Europe, produced by the host societies.

The Youth Guarantee and lifelong guidance

2013

Sequencing toponymic change: A quantitative longitudinal analysis of street renaming in Sibiu, Romania.

2021

Recent scholarship in critical toponymy studies has refashioned the understanding of street names from innocent labels to nominal loci of historical memory and vectors of collective identity that are embroiled with power relations. Urban nomenclatures consist of more than mere linguistic signposts deployed onto space to facilitate navigation. Street names are also powerful signposts that indicate the political regime and its socio-cultural values. Drawing on these theoretical insights, this paper is focused on Sibiu (Romania) and explore the city’s shifting namescape in a longitudinal perspective spanning one century and a half of modern history (1875–2020). The analysis is based on a compl…

Effect of a prenatal lifestyle intervention on physical activity level in late pregnancy and the first year postpartum

2017

Background: Despite documented health benefits for mother and baby, physical activity (PA)-level tends to decline in pregnancy. Overweight/obese and physically inactive women are two selected groups at increased risk of pregnancy complications. Thus, efficient strategies to maintain or increase PA-level in pregnancy and the postpartum period, especially among these women, are warranted. This secondary analysis examined the effect of a prenatal lifestyle-intervention on PA-level in late pregnancy and the first year postpartum, with subanalysis on initially physically active versus inactive and normal-weight versus overweight/obese women. Method: The Norwegian Fit for Delivery (NFFD) randomiz…

The European identity in adolescence. Interactions between the European, Mediterranean, national, regional and local identities among adolescents liv…

2008

Rights of Young People and the European Social Charter

2021

The European Social Charter (alongside the case-law of the European Committee of Social Rights) forms the most striking binding legal source for young people’s social rights, providing a framework for synergies with both the European Union and the Council of Europe’s other instruments and mechanisms in this area. In the current times of pandemic, the most important thing is preventing the COVID-19 crisis (which has economic, political and social dimensions) from becoming a crisis of values among young people. From this perspective, on the one hand, the paper focuses on access of young people to education, labour market and housing. On the other hand, it proposes measures aimed at raising aw…