Gaia Daldanise
Gaia Daldanise
Institution: Institute of Research on Innovation and Services for Development (IRISS), National Research Council of Italy (CNR), 80134 Naples, Italy
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The international debate on cultural heritage enhancement and cultural cross-overs, highlights the need to rethink the relationship between economy, society and territory by working on innovative urban planning and evaluation approaches. In recent times, the concept of “place branding” has becom...
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The international debate on cultural heritage enhancement and cultural cross-overs, highlights the need to rethink the relationship between economy, society and territory by working on innovative urban planning and evaluation approaches. In recent times, the concept of “place branding” has become widespread in strategic urban plans, linking marketing approaches to the attractive features of places. The purpose of this study is to outline a holistic approach to cultural heritage enhancement for urban regeneration based on creative and collaborative place branding: “Community branding”. The methodology was tested in Pisticci—near Matera (Basilicata region, Italy)—starting from its historic center. As a multi-methodological decision-making process, Community branding combines approaches and tools derived from Place Branding, Community Planning, Community Impact Evaluation and Place Marketing. The main results achieved include: an innovative approach that combines both management and planning aspects and empowers communities and skills in network; the co-evaluation of cultural, social and economic impacts for the Pisticci Sustainable Urban Lab (PLUS); the writing and signing of an “urban contract” with local Municipality, research centers and PLUS hub association.
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4 days ago
Michael Siegel
Michael Siegel
Institution: Department of Public Health and Community Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts
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ImportanceA loophole in US gun policy is that people can purchase guns from private sellers without going through any background check. Some states have addressed this loophole by requiring universal background checks for all gun sales, either at the point of sale or through a permit system; however...
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ImportanceA loophole in US gun policy is that people can purchase guns from private sellers without going through any background check. Some states have addressed this loophole by requiring universal background checks for all gun sales, either at the point of sale or through a permit system; however, most studies on the effectiveness of universal background checks have not analyzed these 2 policy mechanisms separately.ObjectiveTo assess the association of point-of-sale background check law and gun permit law, separately, with firearm homicide rates from 1976 through 2022 using the same methods and model specification.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsThis cross-sectional study used a difference-in-differences, fixed-effects regression model to evaluate firearm laws and firearm homicide rates in 48 states from 1976 through 2022. Data were obtained for 48 states except New Hampshire and Vermont and were analyzed in January 2024.ExposuresImplementation of either the law requiring a universal background check at point of sale for all firearms without a permit or the laws combining universal background checks and a state permit requirement for all gun purchasers.Main Outcomes and MeasuresAnnual, state-specific rates of firearm homicide per 100 000 people.ResultsFrom 1976 through 2022, 12 states adopted the universal background check laws without permitting requirements and 7 states implemented gun permit laws covering all firearms. The mean (SD) firearm homicide rate was 4.3 (0.1) per 100 000 people. Universal background checks for all firearms alone (without a state permitting system) were not associated with overall homicide rates (percentage change, 1.3%; 95% CI, −6.9% to 10.4%) or firearm homicide rates (percentage change, 3.7%; 95% CI, −5.3% to 13.6%). A law requiring a permit for the purchase of all firearms was associated with significantly lower overall homicide rates (percentage change, −15.4%; 95% CI, −28.5% to −0.01%) and firearm homicide rates (percentage change, −18.3%; 95% CI, −32.0% to −1.9%).Conclusions and RelevanceThis cross-sectional study found that universal background checks alone were not associated with firearm homicide rates, but a permit requirement for the purchase and possession of firearms was associated with substantially reduced rates of firearm homicide. The findings suggest that combining universal background checks and permit-to-purchase requirements is an effective strategy for firearm-related fatality reduction.
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1 week ago
Zhe Zhang,
Zhe Zhang
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Ashley Barr
Ashley Barr
Institution:
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Since the 1990s, gentrification has significantly changed American urban landscapes. Its implications for crime are under recent scrutiny, particularly in large cities like New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. We extend this literature by focusing on the gentrification-crime link in the midsize ...
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Since the 1990s, gentrification has significantly changed American urban landscapes. Its implications for crime are under recent scrutiny, particularly in large cities like New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. We extend this literature by focusing on the gentrification-crime link in the midsize city of Buffalo, New York using nine years of data from the American Community Survey and the Buffalo Police Department. Examining changes both within tracts over time and changes between gentrified and never-gentrified tracts, we find that gentrification is associated with reduced property crime and is not associated with changes in violent crime. More specifically, in comparing crime trends across tracts, we find that gentrified tracts show a trajectory of declining property crime that mirrors more advantaged tracts, while vulnerable-but-never-gentrified tracts show a U-shaped trajectory of property crime. Looking at within-tract changes, we find that years following gentrification of a given tract have lower property crime rates than years preceding gentrification, independent of the general reduction in crime over time. We discuss the implications of these findings for understanding the intersections between urban processes and crime.
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1 week ago
Joey F. George
Joey F. George
Institution:
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Disinformation–false information intended to cause harm or for profit–is pervasive. While disinformation exists in several domains, one area with great potential for personal harm from disinformation is healthcare. The amount of disinformation about health issues on social media has grown dramat...
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Disinformation–false information intended to cause harm or for profit–is pervasive. While disinformation exists in several domains, one area with great potential for personal harm from disinformation is healthcare. The amount of disinformation about health issues on social media has grown dramatically over the past several years, particularly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The study described in this paper sought to determine the characteristics of multimedia social network posts that lead them to believe and potentially act on healthcare disinformation. The study was conducted in a neuroscience laboratory in early 2022. Twenty-six study participants each viewed a series of 20 either honest or dishonest social media posts, dealing with various aspects of healthcare. They were asked to determine if the posts were true or false and then to provide the reasoning behind their choices. Participant gaze was captured through eye tracking technology and investigated through “area of interest” analysis. This approach has the potential to discover the elements of disinformation that help convince the viewer a given post is true. Participants detected the true nature of the posts they were exposed to 69% of the time. Overall, the source of the post, whether its claims seemed reasonable, and the look and feel of the post were the most important reasons they cited for determining whether it was true or false. Based on the eye tracking data collected, the factors most associated with successfully detecting disinformation were the total number of fixations on key words and the total number of revisits to source information. The findings suggest the outlines of generalizations about why people believe online disinformation, suggesting a basis for the development of mid-range theory.
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1 week ago
G. Reginald Daniel
G. Reginald Daniel
Institution: Department of Sociology, University of California,
Email: rdaniel@soc.ucsb.edu
The last decade saw a rapid increase in the number of studies where time–frequency changes of radiocarbon dates have been used as a proxy for inferring past population dynamics. Although its universal and straightforward premise is appealing and undoubtedly offers some unique opportunities for res...
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The last decade saw a rapid increase in the number of studies where time–frequency changes of radiocarbon dates have been used as a proxy for inferring past population dynamics. Although its universal and straightforward premise is appealing and undoubtedly offers some unique opportunities for research on long-term comparative demography, practical applications are far from trivial and riddled with issues pertaining to the very nature of the proxy under examination. Here I review the most common criticisms concerning the nature of radiocarbon time–frequency data as a demographic proxy, focusing on key statistical and inferential challenges. I then examine and compare recent methodological advances in the field by grouping them into three approaches: reconstructive, null-hypothesis significance testing, and model fitting. I will then conclude with some general recommendations for applying these techniques in archaeological and paleo-demographic research.
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2 years ago
Lingyu Xu
Lingyu Xu
Institution: School of Sociology and Political Science, Anhui University, 111 Jiulong Road, 230601
Email: Lingyu.xu@ahu.edu.cn
Scholars normally explore China’s international migration policy through a pure social sciences lens. This article aims to investigate the policy evolution trajectory, adding a linguistic viewpoint. It explores the question of how the word ‘foreigner’ changed to reflect shifting policies. Theo...
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Scholars normally explore China’s international migration policy through a pure social sciences lens. This article aims to investigate the policy evolution trajectory, adding a linguistic viewpoint. It explores the question of how the word ‘foreigner’ changed to reflect shifting policies. Theoretically, it engages historical institutionalism and focuses on the critical junctures in Chinese history, especially after 1949. Methodologically, it uses document interrogation. To collect data, it mainly relies on Chinese encyclopaedic dictionaries (e.g. The Great Chinese Dictionary, Chinese Etymology Dictionary), Chinese historical ancient books, the Peking University Law database [PKULAW] and some regulation compilation books. In China, a variety of words can signify ‘foreigner’ (Waiqiao, Waiguoren, Yimin), yet each word has another connotation. Waiqiao suggests that China regards foreigners from an ethnic and cultural perspective, revealing an ethnic orientation of the policy makers in Chinese immigration policies in the 1950s. Waiguoren has a more political undertone and strengthens the administrative orientation of immigration policies after the 1960s. While, as a more recent phenomenon, the use of Yimin is a sign for the turn of integration-oriented policies. By differentiating those terms and clarifying their applications in different historical periods, we expect to unveil a clear link between the use of the different terms and China’s immigration policy changes.
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2 years ago