Migrant women’s employment in paid reproductive work through the crisis: the case of Italy (2007-2012)

Paid reproductive work, especially in the case of cleaning and home-care for elderly people, is an important sector for foreign women in Italy. For this reason, since the beginning of the current economic crisis, scholars have wondered about the impact of the recession on migrant domestic workers. They have looked particularly at possible competition with Italian women entering the sector for lack of better alternatives. Our paper takes this discussion a step further by assessing the overall changes affecting migrant women in the Italian labour market, 2007-2012. We will look at how their position has been transformed, by taking both an ethnic perspective, in relation to Italian women, and a gender perspective, in relation to migrant men. By way of a conclusion, the argument will be made that there is a substantial lack of competition between Italian and foreign women in the care and domestic sector due to differences in their earnings, hours of work and activities.

Between "uxor", "mater" and "concubina". Profile and identity of the Emperor Constantine in Late Roman legislation

We aspire to shape the Constantine’s personality in particular by analyzing his loving relationship, first with Minervina and then with Fausta, and not forgetting the bond with his mother Helena, hence the reference to uxor, mater and concubina in our title. We will analyze if these women exercised any influence on the composition of his production rules and, if so, to what extent they were able to determine the historical development of the following decades. From this point of view we must consider in general the emperor had to combine their political claims and government with these relationships, showing great skill in handling times and ways, always putting the first to the second.

Ecophysiology of Adonis distorta, a high-mountain species endemic of the Central Apennines

Morphological, anatomical and physiological plant and leaf traits of A. distorta, an endemic species of the Central Apennines on the Majella Massif, growing at 2,675 m a.s.l, were analyzed. The length of the phenological cycle starts immediately after the snowmelt at the end of May, lasting 128 ± 10 days. The low A. distorta height  (Hmax= 64 ± 4 mm) and total leaf area (TLA= 38 ± 9 cm2) associated to a high leaf mass area (LMA =11.8±0.6 mg cm−2) and a relatively high leaf tissue density (LTD = 124.6±14.3 mg cm−3) seem to be adaptive traits to the stress factors of the environment where it grows. From a physiological point of view, the high A. distorta photosynthetic rates (PN =19.6 ± 2.3 µmol m−2 s−1) and total chlorophyll content (Chla+b = 0.88 ± 0.13 mg g−1) in July are justified by the favorable temperature. PN decreases by 87% in September at the beginning of plant senescence. Photosynthesis and leaf respiration (RD) variations allow A. distorta to maintain a positive carbon balance during the growing season becoming indicative of the efficiency of plant carbon use. The results could be an important tool for conservation programmes of the A. distorta wild populations.

The value of military oath in civil wars in Rome: The example of conflict 49-45 BC

During the civil war between Caesar and Pompey, the military oath which binds the soldier to his army is often openly violated. Yet despite this offense, commanders of armed struggle require recursively the oath to their men. Admittedly, this ritual act seems ineffective given the many desertions and mutinies identified, but military leaders use its symbolic and sacred meaning to legitimize one hand their “anti-republican” actions, on the other armies fighting in a context deemed impius.

Strontium isotopes and sedimentology of a marine Triassic succession (upper Ladinian) of the westernmost Tethys, Spain

Chemical Stratigraphy, or the study of the variation of chemical elements within sedimentary sequences, has gradually become an experienced tool in the research and correlation of global geologic events. In this paper 87Sr/ 86Sr ratios of the Triassic marine carbonates (Muschelkalk facies) of southeast Iberian Ranges, Iberian Peninsula, are presented and the representative Sr-isotopic curve constructed for the upper Ladinian interval. The studied stratigraphic succession is 102 meters thick, continuous, and well preserved. Previous paleontological data from macro and micro, ammonites, bivalves, foraminifera, conodonts and palynological assemblages, suggest a Fassanian-Longobardian age (Late Ladinian). Although diagenetic minerals are present in small amounts, the elemental data content of bulk carbonate samples, especially Sr contents, show a major variation that probably reflects palaeoenvironmental changes. The 87Sr/86Sr ratios curve shows a rise from 0.707649 near the base of the section to 0.707741 and then declines rapidly to 0.707624, with a final values rise up to 0.70787 in the upper part. The data up to meter 80 in the studied succession is broadly concurrent with 87Sr/86Sr ratios of sequences of similar age and complements these data. Moreover, the sequence stratigraphic framework and its key surfaces, which are difficult to be recognised just based in the facies analysis, are characterised by combining variations of the Ca, Mg, Mn, Sr and CaCO3 contents

Revisiting the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous of the NW South Iberian Basin: new ages and sedimentary environments

The study of the Upper Jurassic-Lower Cretaceous deposits (Higueruelas, Villar del Arzobispo and Aldea de Cortés Formations) of the South Iberian Basin (NW Valencia, Spain) reveals new stratigraphic and sedimentological data, which have significant implications on the stratigraphic framework, depositional environments and age of these units. The Higueruelas Fm was deposited in a mid-inner carbonate platform where oncolitic bars migrated by the action of storms and where oncoid production progressively decreased towards the uppermost part of the unit. The overlying Villar del Arzobispo Fm has been traditionally interpreted as an inner platform-lagoon evolving into a tidal-flat. Here it is interpreted as an inner-carbonate platform affected by storms, where oolitic shoals protected a lagoon, which had siliciclastic inputs from the continent. The Aldea de Cortés Fm has been previously interpreted as a lagoon surrounded by tidal-flats and fluvial-deltaic plains. Here it is reinterpreted as a coastal wetland where siliciclastic muddy deposits interacted with shallow fresh to marine water bodies, aeolian dunes and continental siliciclastic inputs. The contact between the Higueruelas and Villar del Arzobispo Fms, classically defined as gradual, is also interpreted here as rapid. More importantly, the contact between the Villar del Arzobispo and Aldea de Cortés Fms, previously considered as unconformable, is here interpreted as gradual. The presence of Alveosepta in the Villar del Arzobispo Fm suggests that at least part of this unit is Kimmeridgian, unlike the previously assigned Late Tithonian-Middle Berriasian age. Consequently, the underlying Higueruelas Fm, previously considered Tithonian, should not be younger than Kimmeridgian. Accordingly, sedimentation of the Aldea de Cortés Fm, previously considered Valangian-Hauterivian, probably started during the Tithonian and it may be considered part of the regressive trend of the Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous cycle. This is consistent with the dinosaur faunas, typically Jurassic, described in the Villar del Arzobispo and Aldea de Cortés Fms.

The gendered effects of family migration law: contextual interpretation as a possible judicial remedy

At all normative levels, family migration law can disproportionally and negatively affect immigrant women’s rights in this field, producing gendered effects. In some cases, such effects are related to the normative and judicial imposition of unviable family-related models (e.g., the ʻgood mother ̕ the one-breadwinner family, or a rigid distinction between productive and reproductive work). In other cases, they are due to family migration law’s overlooking of the specific needs and difficulties of immigrant women, within their families and in the broader context of their host countries’ social and normative framework.To effectively expose and correct this gender bias, in this article I propose an alternative view of immigrant women’s right to family life, as a cluster of rights and entitlements rather than as a mono-dimensional right. As a theoretical approach, this construction is better equipped to capture the complex experiences of immigrant women in the European legal space, and to shed light on the gendered effects generated not by individual norms but by the interaction of norms that are traditionally assigned to separated legal domains (e.g., immigration law and criminal law). As a judicial strategy, this understanding is capable of prompting a consideration by domestic and supranational courts of immigrant women not as isolated individuals, but as ‘individuals in context’. I shall define this type of approach as ‘contextual interpretation’, understood as the consideration of immigrant women in the broader contexts of their families, their host societies and the normative frameworks applicable to them. Performed in a gendersensitive manner, a contextual judicial interpretation has the potential to neutralize the gendered effects of certain family migration norms. To illustrate these points, I will discuss selected judicial examples offered by the European Court on Human Rights, as well as from domestic jurisdictions of countries with a particularly high incidence of immigrant women (Italy and Spain).

"Ad nostram scientiam referatur": la supervisión administrativa imperial de la aplicación de las leyes durante la dinastía constantiniana

Constantino y sus sucesores, Constancio II, Constante y Juliano, expresaron su particular interés por supervisar la aplicación de determinadas leyes imperiales mediante el uso de la fórmula ad nostram scientiam referatur y de otras similares. Constantino fue el príncipe que la empleó con más frecuencia, especialmente durante el período de 313-324, exceptuando el intervalo de 315-316, cuando la confrontación con Licinio le obligó a renunciar a atender directamente las cuestiones administrativas. La progresiva disminución de la inclusión de estas cláusulas en los textos legales imperiales a partir de la unificación del Imperio en 324 se debe poner en relación con la aparición de los curiosi y luego de los agentes in rebus, como oficiales encargados de vigilar la observancia de las normas vigentes.

Upper-Pleistocene terrace deposits in Mediterranean climate: geomorphological and source-rock control on mineral and geochemical signatures (Betic Cordillera, SE Spain)

Mineral and chemical composition of alluvial Upper-Pleistocene deposits from the Alto Guadalquivir Basin (SE Spain) were studied as a tool to identify sedimentary and geomorphological processes controlling its formation. Sediments located upstream, in the north-eastern sector of the basin, are rich in dolomite, illite, MgO and KB2BO. Downstream, sediments at the sequence base are enriched in calcite, smectite and CaO, whereas the upper sediments have similar features to those from upstream. Elevated rare-earth elements (REE) values can be related to low carbonate content in the sediments and the increase of silicate material produced and concentrated during soil formation processes in the neighbouring source areas. Two mineralogical and geochemical signatures related to different sediment source areas were identified. Basal levels were deposited during a predominantly erosive initial stage, and are mainly composed of calcite and smectite materials enriched in REE coming from Neogene marls and limestones. Then the deposition of the upper levels of the alluvial sequences, made of dolomite and illitic materials depleted in REE coming from the surrounding Sierra de Cazorla area took place during a less erosive later stage of the fluvial system. Such modification was responsible of the change in the mineralogical and geochemical composition of the alluvial sediments.

El impacto de la crisis en la industria cinematográfica en Europa

Este trabajo analiza el impacto que ha generado la crisis económica y financiera más reciente en las industrias cinematográficas de siete países miembros de la Unión Europea. Las conclusiones señalan que, en efecto, la crisis ha impactado negativamente en las industrias de España e Italia, y muy gravemente en la de Portugal, pero en el lado contrario, la del Reino Unido ha experimentado un crecimiento apreciable y las de Francia y Alemania también lo han hecho, aunque en menor medida. Y en segundo lugar, es muy notable la escasa colaboración alcanzada entre los agentes europeos.

Francesco Grimaldi, un mercader-banquero genovés entre Granada, la corte e Inglaterra (siglos xv-xvi)

Los estudios sobre la comunidad genovesa del Reino de Granada suelen centrarse en las actividades desarrolladas en el territorio y rara vez en la reconstrucción de trayectorias individuales, circunstancia determinada por el recurso casi exclusivo a los protocolos notariales. El caso de Francesco Grimaldi es singular por muchas razones: su localización en fuentes de naturaleza muy variada –protocolos notariales de Granada y Málaga, Registro del Sello de Simancas y Granada, Chancillería de Valladolid, el epistolario del comendador Fuensalida y el archivo privado de la familia Grimaldo de Cáceres– ha permitido seguir su presencia y sus actividades en Granada, la Corte e Inglaterra –donde desempeñó un papel fundamental en el matrimonio entre Catalina de Aragón y Enrique VIII–. Así se conoce su interés por los préstamos y el negocio de la renta, las circunstancias de su matrimonio con Francisca de Cáceres y la adquisición de un importante patrimonio en el reino granadino.

Los emigrantes en las áreas mineras y las ciudades de Hispania: religión, identidades y difusión cultural

En el presente artículo analizamos los desplazamientos de cultos indígenas hispanos desde distintas áreas de la Península Ibérica hacia los principales lugares de inmigración en Hispania: las áreas mineras y las ciudades. Proponemos que estos grupos de emigrantes rendían culto en su nueva residencia a las deidades que veneraban en sus regiones de procedencia como un medio de preservar su cohesión social y su identidad cultural. La dureza de la vida laboral en las áreas mineras reforzaba la necesidad de fortalecer los lazos culturales.