The Björling 'Opera' : A children's Nursery Academy and an Italian Conservatory in Miniature

The aim in this chapter is to develop a deeper understanding about the informal Björling 'School' in Sweden. Contextually the example is related to the micro history of opera education contributing to the macro perspective illuminating a provincial example of the concept of domestic opera schooling. The specific focus was on Karl David Björling (1873-1926), the teaching parent of the Swedish tenor Jussi Björling (1911-1960) and his brothers Gösta and Olle.   The Björling family model of opera schooling belongs to the classical canon of domestic home education which was common during the epoch. The phenomenon is also within the field of opera singing an important reference to the historical context of the Nordic opera history of vocal education.   The uniqueness concerning the Björling School seems to be the rigorous and exceptionally early training. David Björling’s pedagogy was rooted in earlier German theories of musical upbringing. It's clear from his results that he was familiar with the neo-humanistic ideal on which reformed music education was based. Of a specific interest is the term Gesang als Unterricht as a concept for developing childrens musical and memorising capacities.   Conceptually the roots of the Björling model are in the eighteenth-century Romantic view of prodigies and their abilities. The extensive touring is connected to the promotion of wonder-children, and David Björling’s educational style to the conservative Master-pupil tradition.   David Björling's vocal ideal was a part of the contemporary debate about “The decadence of the singing art”, and seems to have its roots in an older Italian tradition. There are recurring similarities between his educational methods and the didactic principles of the Lamperti School: Enjoying a revival around the late 1800s and early 1900s, it has been called the natural or the national school. Nevertheless, through authentic experiences and gramophone recordings the Italian tenor Enrico Caruso became David Björling’s pedagogical role model.

The country of origin effect: tracking Brazil’s brand image among italian consumers

O Brasil se tornou nos últimos anos uma importante economia no cenário global. O país sempre foi visto basicamente como um exportador de commodities; no entanto, devido ao crescimento de investimentos e ao desenvolvimento de diversos setores econômicos, essa imagem mudou e está em processo de reconstrução. As empresas para poderem se diferenciarem e ganharem competitividade, precisam entender profundamente como consumidores percebem e avaliam os produtos brasileiros atualmente. É de extrema importância para o Brasil entender o potencial competitivo para posicionar-se corretamente contra as nações desenvolvidas e altamente industrializadas, bem como contra as gigantes economias emergentes como Rússia, China e Índia. Este estudo explora como um grupo de respondentes italianos avaliam a categoria de cosméticos brasileiros. Foi conduzida uma pesquisa exploratória com o objetivo de identificar dentre quarto categorias diferentes de produtos qual seria analisada em detalhe posteriormente por meio de entrevistas em profundidade. Das 4 categorias diferentes de produtos (vestuário, cosméticos, frutas frescas e carnes) foi selecionada a categoria cosméticos que obteve a menor avaliação geral no estudo exploratório. Após a escolha da categoria a ser analisada, uma pesquisa qualitativa com 7 entrevistas em profundidade com consumidores italianos residentes no Brasil foram realizadas. Das pesquisas realizadas são obtidas as percepções de um grupo de consumidores sobre os atributos e associações psicológicas sobre a categoria de cosméticos brasileiros. A análise será conduzida utilizando 3 componentes para explicar a atitude de consumo: a cognitiva, a conativa e a emocional. Deste modo, os resultados e conclusões são apresentados e explorados. Ademais, um mapa psicológico das atitudes sobre a categoria analisada perante o público estudado será desenvolvido, com o objetivo de pontuar suas forças e fraquezas. Desta análise final será possível ter uma visão ampla das características, bem como dos pontos críticos que precisam ser melhorados no futuro para que o Brasil seja uma nação competitiva na indústria de cosméticos e também algumas questões que podem ser estendidas a outros setores da economia brasileira.

A comparative study of internationalization potential for Italian SMEs in the fashion industry in Brazil and Russia

Este estudo tem como objetivo desenvolver uma análise comparativa do potencial de internacionalização na Rússia e no Brasil para as PME italianas que operam na indústria da moda. Depois de apresentar ao leitor as principais áreas cobertas, tais como, o contexto, a metodologia e revisão da literatura, é fornecido um panorama macroeconômico das áreas geográficas composto, englobando um estudo específico sobre o estado atual da economia e da demanda para os bens italianos. O estudo, introduzindo o leitor na indústria de moda italiana, suas principais características e o desempenho atual, já evidencia a busca pela internacionalização. As conclusões decorrentes das análises macroeconômicas funcionam como introdução à visão geral da indústria de moda italiana, uma indústria que representa, fortemente, o "Made in Italy" no exterior. A breve análise da história desta indústria, principais características e situação atual irão, então, sugerir que a internacionalização é o caminho mais viável às PME, para se recuperarem dos anos turbulentos da crise. Entre o vasto conjunto de opções geográficas que as PME têm para abraçar internacionalização, este estudo tem como objetivo fornecer duas análises sobre a indústria da moda: o mercado russo e o brasileiro. A análise, com base no quadro de capacidade de ‘resposta internacional’ proposto por Bartlet e Ghoshal (1989), apresenta os resultados de um conjunto de pesquisas e entrevistas realizadas no Brasil, na Itália e na Rússia, sob a forma de uma análise comparativa dos dois mercados-alvo. A análise evidenciará os drivers de mercado, custo, competitividade e legislação que justificam o processo de internacionalização em ambos os mercados. Os resultados levam à conclusão e às recomendações que os dois mercados representam duas oportunidades muito diferentes para as PME da indústria da moda italiana.

Cultures at work: the case of italian expatriates in Brazil

Esta tese de mestrado tem por intenção entender quais são as mais importantes diferenças culturais para os expatriados Italianos que trabalham no Brasil e aprender as implicações práticas para o ambiente de trabalho. O método utilizado foi qualitativo, com 23 entrevistas em profundidade com expatriados italianos de nível médio ate top management, com experiência de trabalho no Brasil. Os resultados indicam que os expatriados Italianos experimentam dificuldades com as diferenças em termos de comunicação, distinção entre as esfera profissional e privada, distancia do poder e planejamento. Em contrapartida, outros fatores como a discriminação positiva para os estrangeiros, diferenças em geneder equality e masculinidade, assim como com a atitude positiva dos workplaces e uma economia em crescimento, todos influenciam de maneira positiva a experiência do expatriado. Enfim, algumas sugestões práticas sobre os efeitos das diferenças culturais e sobre a estruturação de um possível cross-cultural training são expostas.

Economic traits and performance of Italian quails reared at different cage stocking densities

This study assessed the effect of different cage stocking densities on the performance of Italian quails in the laying period. Two hundred and sixty four quails with 30 weeks of age and 280g mean body weight were used. Birds were randomly assigned to 96 x 33 x 16 cm cages and distributed in a randomized block design with 4 treatments (12, 15, 18 and 21 quails per cage or 264, 211, 176 and 151 cm² per quail, respectively) and 4 replicates. Birds were given feed and water ad libitum and submitted to the same experimental conditions. The experimental diet was formulated based on NRC (1994) recommendations. There were no significant differences among treatments for feed conversion per egg mass (kg:kg), percentage of broken eggs and mortality. There was a linear reduction (p<0.05) in egg weight, feed consumption, percentage of production, egg mass and feed conversion per dozen with the increase in stocking density. The gain per house per day was better at the cage density of 151 cm² per bird. However, the density of 211 cm² per bird provided the best gain per bird per day, because this stocking density had better productive indexes when compared with the other treatments.

Thermoregulation in colonies of africanized and hybrids with Caucasian, Italian and Carniolan Apis mellifera honey bees

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Number of ovarioles in workers descendent from crossings between Africanized and Italian honeybees, Apis mellifera L.: comparison among backcrosses and ancestors colonies

Comparou-se o número de ovaríolos de operárias de abelhas Apis mellifera L. de 36 colônias de retrocruzamentos (Africanizadas e Italianas) e operárias de colônias ancestrais parentais, endocruzadas e híbridas (F1). Não houve diferença no número de ovaríolos dos ovários direito e esquerdo das operárias. As abelhas híbridas da geração F1 apresentaram de 2 a 31 ovaríolos. O número de ovaríolos nas operárias dos retrocruzamentos africanizados variou de 2 a 56 e nos retrocruzamentos italianos de 2 a 117. A grande variação no número de ovaríolos das abelhas dos retrocruzamentos deveu-se a variabilidade observada na geração parental (abelhas africanizadas: 2 - 16; italianas: 6 - 26) e no F1 (2 - 31).

Socialists vs. fascists and communists in Italian São Paulo in the 1920s

The action of São Paulo's Italian reformist socialists at the beginning of the 20th century had a political impact on the way of considering the question of democracy both in the state of São Paulo and the whole of Brazil. In fact not only did the socialists oppose the fascist political project and the symbolic roots of its aggressive behavior, but they also faced the opposition of the theoretical proposals coming from other leftist groups. This article intends to present the main interlocutors of these socialists and understand how this theoretical dispute has developed.

A Culture of Relationships: Early Care for Italian and American Children

A culture of childhood is a shared vision – an agreed upon vision – of the needs and rights of children, including ideas about how the people of the community can collectively nurture them and at the same time be renewed by them. In other words, it is a set of values, beliefs, and practices that people have created to guide their way of nurturing young children and their families. The vision is about investing in young children and investing in the supports and relationships that children need to learn and grow, both for the reason that children carry our future and because they carry our hopes and dreams for the future. These hopes and dreams begin with birth. Sensitive, emotionally available parents create the framework for interaction with their children by responding to the baby’s cues, engaging the baby in mutual gazes, and imitating the baby. The baby, born with a primary ability to share emotions with other human beings eagerly joins the relationship dance. The intimate family circle soon widens. Providers, teachers, and directors of early childhood programs become significant figures in children’s lives—implicit or explicit partners in a "relationship dance" (Edwards & Raikes, 2002). These close relationships are believed to be critical to healthy intellectual, emotional, social, and physical development in childhood and adolescence as well. These conclusions have been documented by diverse fields of science, ranging from cognitive science to communication studies and social and personality psychology. Close relationships contribute to security and trust, promote skill development and understanding, nurture healthy physical growth, infuse developing self-understanding and self-confidence, enable self-control and emotion regulation, and strengthen emotional connections with others that contribute to prosocial motivation (Dunn, 1993; Fogel, 1993; Thompson, 1996). Furthermore, many studies showing how relationship dysfunction is linked to child abuse and neglect, aggression, criminality, and other problems involving the lack of significant human connections (Shankoff & Meisels, 2000). In extending the dance of primary relationships to new relationships, a childcare teacher can play a primary role. The teacher makes the space ready--creating a beautiful place that causes everyone to feel like dancing. Gradually, as the dance between them becomes smooth and familiar, the teacher encourages the baby to try out more complex steps and learn how to dance to new compositions, beats, and tempos. As the baby alternates dancing sometimes with one or two partners, sometimes with many, the dance itself becomes a story about who the child has been and who the child is becoming, a reciprocal self created through close relationships.

Physical and psychosocial risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders in Brazilian and Italian nurses

As part of the international CUPID investigation, we compared physical and psychosocial risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders among nurses in Brazil and Italy. Using questionnaires, we collected information on musculoskeletal disorders and potential risk factors from 751 nurses employed in public hospitals. By fitting country-specific multiple logistic regression models, we investigated the association of stressful physical activities and psychosocial characteristics with site-specific and multisite pain, and associated sickness absence. We found no clear relationship between low back pain and occupational lifting, but neck and shoulder pain were more common among nurses who reported prolonged work with the arms in an elevated position. After adjustment for potential confounding variables, pain in the low back, neck and shoulder, multisite pain, and sickness absence were all associated with somatizing tendency in both countries. Our findings support a role of somatizing tendency in predisposition to musculoskeletal disorders, acting as an important mediator of the individual response to triggering exposures, such as work-load.