Bureaucrats and lawyers in the implementation of Italian naturalization: a relational approach to ‘highly discretionary powers’

Abstract. The quality of the calibrated radiances of the medium-resolution Imaging Infrared Radiometer (IIR) on-board the CALIPSO (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation) satellite is quantitatively evaluated from the beginning of the mission in June 2006. Two complementary relative and stand-alone approaches are used, which are related to comparisons of measured brightness temperatures and to model-to-observations comparisons, respectively. In both cases, IIR channels 1 (8.65 µm), 2 (10.6 µm), and 3 (12.05 µm) are paired with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS)/Aqua Collection 5 companion channels 29, 31, and 32, respectively, as well as with the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI)/Meteosat companion channels IR8.7, IR10.8, and IR12, respectively. These pairs were selected before launch to meet radiometric, geometric, and space-time constraints. The prelaunch studies were based on simulations and sensitivity studies using the 4A/OP radiative transfer model and the more than 2300 atmospheres of the climatological Thermodynamic Initial Guess Retrieval (TIGR) input dataset further sorted into five air mass types. Using data from over 9.5 years of on-orbit operation, and following the relative approach technique, collocated measurements of IIR and of its companion channels have been compared at all latitudes over ocean, during day and night, and for all types of scenes in a wide range of brightness temperatures. The relative approach shows an excellent stability of IIR2–MODIS31 and IIR3–MODIS32 brightness temperature differences (BTDs) since launch. A slight trend within the IIR1–MODIS29 BTD, that equals −0.02 K yr−1 on average over 9.5 years, is detected when using the relative approach at all latitudes and all scene temperatures. For very cold scene temperatures (190–200 K) in the tropics, each IIR channel is warmer than its MODIS companion channel by 1.6 K on average. For the stand-alone approach, clear sky measurements only are considered, which are directly compared with simulations using 4A/OP and collocated ERA-Interim (ERA-I) reanalyses. The clear sky mask is derived from collocated observations from IIR and the CALIPSO lidar. Simulations for clear sky pixels in the tropics reproduce the differences between IIR1 and MODIS29 within 0.02 K and between IIR2 and MODIS31 within 0.04 K, whereas IIR3–MODIS32 is larger than simulated by 0.26 K. The stand-alone approach indicates that the trend identified from the relative approach originates from MODIS29, whereas no trend (less than ±0.004 K yr−1) is identified for any of the IIR channels. Finally, using the relative approach, a year-by-year seasonal bias between nighttime and daytime IIR–MODIS BTD was found at mid-latitude in the Northern Hemisphere. It is due to a nighttime IIR bias as determined by the stand-alone approach, which originates from a calibration drift during day-to-night transitions. The largest bias is in June and July when IIR2 and IIR3 are warmer by 0.4 K on average, and IIR1 is warmer by 0.2 K.

Goal and objectives of the dissertationRural tourism is a multidisciplinary research field of significant import that has seen a quantitative increase in its literature, although causal studies in destination marketing are still missing. A deepening of this subarea of research can result in a better understanding of the behaviour of rural tourists, resulting in a more effective and efficient management and marketing of rural tourism destinations and associated companies.In the current context of competitive markets, relationship marketing stands out as a strategy capable of ensuring the continuity of organisations through strategies based on establishing long-term relationships, which seek to foster customer loyalty. This research studies the determinants of loyalty to rural tourism destinations, based on a literature review and previous studies (Campon et al., 2012, 2013a, 2013b), which found that past researches lacked a relational marketing approach. For this reason, this research seeks to integrate a transactional marketing focus with a relational approach, in a structural model.The general objective (GO) of this doctoral thesis is: 'the proposal of a research model of the factors that generate loyalty to rural tourism destinations. It seeks to enrich a transactional perspective on marketing with a relational approach, based on theoretical justifications'. The specific objectives (SO), arising from the general objective, are:SO1. To reach a deep knowledge of the scientific literature related to this topic.SO2. To identify the methodologies and causal models used for this type of studies.SO3. To study a structural model proposed on the basis of the literature review.SO4. To empirically test the structural model and the research hypotheses proposed.SO5. To highlight the theoretical and practical implications of the results.SO6. To offer recommendations to develop rural tourism destination loyalty.This thesis offers a proposed model that seeks to be comprehensive and integrative. Within this model, a transactional submodel is delineated, which includes the variables 'image', 'quality' and 'value'. In addition, the model incorporates a relational submodel, which contains 'trust', 'attachment' and 'mixed satisfaction'. This last variable encompasses satisfaction with relationships with tourism providers and local residents, as well as satisfaction with destination attributes. The results of both submodels point to the result variables of marketing as overall satisfaction with, and loyalty to, rural tourism destinations. The main novelty of this proposal is its focus on filling an important gap in the literature by including a relational perspective in this kind of model, which has mainly been approached through transactional marketing.MethodologyThe study was developed in Spain, a country where rural tourism has experienced exceptional growth in recent years from the supply and demand point of view (Hernandez et al., 2011). A quantitative methodology through on-line survey was used. The sample universe was composed of people who engage in rural tourism with some frequency (i.e. at least once every two or three years). The fieldwork was carried out from April to June 2013, gathering a non-probabilistic convenience sample of 464 rural tourists.The theoretical model assessment was conducted using structural equation modelling (SEM). SEM is configured as the only multivariate statistical method that allows researchers to test causal relationships between dependent and independent variables simultaneously (Martinez-Lopez et al., 2009). Given that this study is exploratory - since it introduces some novelties that need to be tested - and has a complex structure, the use of Partial Least Squares (PLS) was identified as a suitable technique for its resolution, according to Hair et al.'s (2011) specifications.ResultsThe results of the proposed model indicate a moderate to substantial explanatory power for overall satisfaction and moderate power for loyalty. …

Existing XML twig pattern query processing algorithms fall into two classes: the relational approach and the native approach. Both kinds of approaches have their advantages and limitations. Particularly, the relational approach can search for data values (content search) efficiently using tables, but it is not efficient to match query structure to documents (structural search). The native approach processes structural search efficiently, but it has problem dealing with values. In this chapter, a hybrid approach for XML query processing is introduced. In this approach, the content search and the structural search in a twig pattern query are performed separately using the data structures in the relational approach and the native approach, i.e. relational tables and inverted lists. The authors show that this hybrid style technique can process both structural search and content search efficiently, and then improve the query processing performance comparing to the existing approaches. Furthermore, when more semantic information on object class and relationship between objects in the XML document is known, the relational tables used can be optimized according to such semantic information to achieve a better performance. Finally after performing twig pattern matching, value results can be extracted easily using relational tables, rather than navigating the document again in many other approaches.

This paper argues that neither the relational approach nor the non-relational approach to global justice is at once necessary and sufficient to deal with complex cases of global (in)justice. In this intervention in the dispute between relational and non-relational approaches, the aim of the paper is not to support one side and oppose the other, but to combine both approaches in order to arrive at a more robust approach. Using the strengths of the relational approach to compensate for the weaknesses of the non-relational approach and vice versa, the aim of the paper is to set out a mixed, combinatorial or synthetic approach that will be used to address complex cases of global (in)justice. Rather thandiscussing how the synthetic approach applies to a particular complex case of global (in)justice, the paper shows how a synthetic approach that intends to address complex cases of global (in)justice will look like. Perhaps, colloquially in Hegelian dialectics, the relational approach can be seen as a thesis, the non-relational approach as an antithesis and the combination of both approaches as a synthesis.

High power consumption becomes the major bottleneck that prevents applying Network-on-Chips (NoCs) on future many-core systems. Power gating is an effective way to reduce the power consumption of a NoC. However, conventional power gating approaches cause significant packet latency increase as well as additional power consumption overhead due to the power gating mechanism. One comprehensive way to reduce these negative impacts is to bypass the powered-off routers in a NoC to transfer packets. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a dynamic bypass (D-bypass) approach, which is based on a reservation mechanism to allow different upstream routers to forward packets through the same powered-off router at different times. With this feature, our D-bypass power gating approach overcomes the drawbacks in related power gating approaches. Compared with a conventional NoC without power gating, our D-bypass approach causes only 2.55% performance penalty, which is less than 28.67%, 19.26%, 7.24%, and 6.69% penalties in related approaches. With small hardware overhead, our approach just consumes on average 22.23% of total power consumption in a NoC, which is slightly better compared to 27.06%, 23.89%, 26.45%, and 24.70% total power consumption in related approaches.

To what degree are rolling, or layered, contracts binding? A number of courts, starting with the now infamous case of ProCD, Inc. v. Zeidenberg, have held that, rather than a contract for the sale of a good, such as a computer, being completed in-store, the contract is formed when deferred terms found inside the package are reviewed by the buyer and accepted by some act -- usually use of the good (or declining to return it). This approach, which has been called the rolling contract, has been widely criticized by commentators as an abomination of contract law that ignores a true application of the Uniform Commercial Code (“UCC”) as well as the spirit of that code. The approach is not without its allure, however, as it permits contracts to be formed in an efficient manner that may very well appeal to consumers and merchants alike. However, too strict of an adherence to the approach threatens to impose terms upon parties that they never expected or agreed upon. But the opposite is also true -- too strict of an adherence to traditional roles of offer and acceptance threatens to displace terms that were contemplated and not objectionable to the consumer. Thus, rather than relegating the rolling contract approach to a dark corner of contract law in favor of a more traditional approach, this article proposes that the rolling contract should be rehabilitated. Existing contract law does a good job of defining contract offers. However, what is the trickier issue, particularly when a transaction involves an initial oral component, is identifying when the offer is actually made. In other words, when is it fair to say that an offer is made in-store by the buyer, and when is it fair to say that the in-store interaction is nothing more than a preliminary event to the actual offer, which comes later when the buyer gets home and opens the product? Legal realism, which was a foundational principle driving the drafting of the Restatement (Second) of Contracts, as well as the UCC, may offer some insights into how to approach the rolling contract theory. But so may a more recent approach to contract law -- the relational contract approach. Relational contract theory, which essentially treats contracts not as isolated events but ongoing relationships, provides a useful way of making this determination. Relational contract theory has its roots in the writings of Ian Macneil who believed most contracts were rarely, if ever, fully thought-out and expressed representations of the parties’ obligations. It would therefore seem to be a logical extension of both legal realism and relational contract theory that certain situations exist where the parties expect that a contract has not been fully formed in the store, but rather further terms, i.e., the formal “offer,” will come later. If parties to a contract know that there is more to the contract than simply the price and the good, then it should come as no surprise that more terms are to come, or that a more detailed offer will be forthcoming. Thus, in some scenarios, it is perfectly reasonable to assume that the contract has not been formed in-store, but rather a deferred offer will come later. Thus rolling contract theory can be explained under a legal realism approach, as influenced by a relational approach; however, this is not to say that all contracts are now subject to the rolling contract approach. As this article explains, some contracts really are formed at the point of contact under a relational contract approach. The challenge to the courts is to determine which will be which. This article describes how legal realism and the relational contract theory can be used to explain the rolling contract approach and makes suggestions for how this relational contract theory can be used to aid courts in determining which contracts involve a rolling or deferred offer.

In attempting to develop a more genuinely historical approach to Jesus of Nazareth as an historical figure in his historical context author finds it necessary to question and often abandon some of the basic assumptions, methods, and concepts of standard theologically based New Testament scholarship. This chapter sketches some of the components of a relational and contextual approach to the historical Jesus, and will refer to these other projects and publications where fuller researches and reflections can be found. In the Christian theological construction of religious history, Jesus functioned as the pivotal figure in the epoch making shift from Judaism, as the parochial and overly political religion, to Christianity, the universal and spiritual religion. The chapter summarizes the complex contextual and relational multidisciplinary approach that author now attempts to develop for further historical inquiry into Jesus-inmovement- in-context. Keywords:Christian; Jesus; Judaism; Nazareth; New Testament; relational approach

This article begins with a story called “I’ve killed my puppet” based on an incident that unfolded in the author’s university class, which provides a concrete illustration of the potential of a relational psychotherapeutic approach to inclusion. At its core, a relational approach is about relationships. What this has meant practically in terms of inclusive practice is reframing “difference” as a relation. A relational view presupposes that “difference” does not singularly reside in the individual, but that “difference” is also shaped and given shape by the group. A distinct feature of a relational praxis that makes it especially inclusive is how relationality works purposefully to center individual and group practices of relating (or not) to one another. Another distinct feature of a relational approach is how it reframes teaching and learning as simultaneously a pedagogic and therapeutic project. Valente uses the “I’ve killed my puppet” story as an example to foreground relational strategies employed in his teaching practice in his class and in that particular episode. He uses the story and the discussion that follows to make the case for inclusive educators to consider adapting, or modifying into their own teaching practices, these particular relational strategies.

To diagnose sensory abnormalities, patient values can be compared with values of the general population (absolute approach) or to values measured at contralateral homologous skin (relative approach). The current study gives normal values for both approaches and compares the advantages of each method by applying the technique to patients with complex regional pain syndrome type I (CRPS I). In 50 healthy control subjects, sensory and pain thresholds were measured for pressure, warmth, and cold on both wrists and both feet. In 53 patients with unilateral CRPS I (33 hand, 20 foot), the same assessments were conducted twice, at an interval of 1 month. In control subjects, contralateral homologous sides have approximately the same sensitivity, supporting the validity of the relative approach in patients. Hypoesthesia and allodynia can be diagnosed by either the absolute or relative approach, whereas hyperesthesia and hypoalgesia can only be identified with the relative approach. The two approaches obtain different results in 20% of cases. Age, gender, and subject criteria may influence the absolute but not the relative approach. Both approaches are comparable with regard to reproducibility. Frequency distributions of sensory abnormalities in chronic CRPS I are presented. The most frequent diagnoses were cold allodynia and mechanical hypoesthesia and allodynia. To divide sensory characteristics into a binary classification of "normal" and "abnormal," the relative approach is the best choice, with the exception of cases in which the contralateral homologous side is absent or affected by disease. The authors recommend the relative approach for both research and clinical purposes.

The author distinguishes and comments on three different forms of the institutional turn: thematic, methodological, and ontological. He argues that there is a wide range of institutional turns that have been undertaken for quite different theoretical, empirical, and policy-related reasons; and suggests that the returns from any given institutional turn are by no means guaranteed to be positive. The different senses in which ‘institutions matter’ are explored and the need to contextualize the institutional turn, both at more macro and at more microlevels, is also emphasized. One way of undertaking this contextualization is through the ‘strategic – relational approach’ with its concern with both the structural and the strategic dimensions of a contextualized institutional analysis. As well as presenting the approach in general terms, the author also illustrates its relevance to the spatiotemporal dimensions of institutional analysis. Eight broad conclusions about the institutional turn are presented.

In this paper we seek to exploit some of the insights of a strategic - relational approach in examining the response of business interests to the newly devolved and regionalised governance context in Britain. In the analysis, the focus is directed particularly at the changing context within which business politics operates in the British regions and, importantly, on the perceptions of business actors and interests of their position in these changing contexts. In this way, we seek to move beyond established structuralist and agency-oriented approaches to business interest representation, which have tended to underplay the influence and complexity of business perceptions in exploring the changing form of business representation. Subsequently, we present some further brief comments on the respective capacities of groups and organisations representing business, and the strategic processes that underlie business responses to the new governance arrangements, which will be important to the further development of analysis founded in the strategic - relational approach. In broad terms, we argue that business perceptions of the devolutionary context have underscored a limited restructuring of business interest representation in Britain, as business groups register the ongoing centralism that characterises the British polity. In addition, the organisation of business interest representation displays a strong path dependency, reflecting a degree of institutional stasis and the strength of perceived structures in this sphere. However, a series of relatively modest changes are underway as a variety of business interests adopt particular kinds of strategies given their specific aims and capacities.

XML is a flexible and powerful tool that enables information and security sharing in heterogeneous environments. Scalable technologies are needed to effectively manage the growing volumes of XML data. A wide variety of methods exist for storing and searching XML data; the two most common techniques are conventional tree-based and relational approaches. Tree-based approaches represent XML as a tree and use indexes and path join algorithms to process queries. In contrast, the relational approach utilizes the power of a mature relational database to store and search XML. This method relationally maps XML queries to SQL and reconstructs the XML from the database results. To date, the limited acceptance of the relational approach to XML processing is due to the need to redesign the relational schema each time a new XML hierarchy is defined. We, in contrast, describe a relational approach that is fixed schema eliminating the need for schema redesign at the expense of potentially longer runtimes. We show, however, that these potentially longer runtimes are still significantly shorter than those of the tree approach. We use a popular XML benchmark to compare the scalability of both approaches. We generated large collections of heterogeneous XML documents ranging in size from 500 MB to 8 GB using the XBench benchmark. The scalability of each method was measured by running XML queries that cover a wide range of XML search features on each collection. We measure the scalability of each method over different query features as the collection size increases. In addition, we examine the performance of each method as the result size and the number of predicates increase. Our results show that our relational approach provides a scalable approach to XML retrieval by leveraging existing relational database optimizations. Furthermore, we show that the relational approach typically outperforms the tree-based approach while scaling consistently over all collections studied.

Poverty is one of the major challenges facing the continent, Africa and also South Africa. A number of studies on poverty in South Africa have been conducted in the past. Most of the studies followed the income/expenditure approach, which Cheli (1995) regards as the traditional approach to poverty measurement. In defining the poor, Sen (1976) considers a community S of n people. Then, the set of people with income/expenditure no higher than x is called S(x). If z is “the poverty line”, S(z) is the set of “the poor”. However, Cheli (1995) argues that the division of the population into poor and nonpoor is only to oversimplify reality. Hence this paper uses both traditional approach to the measurement of poverty and the Totally Fuzzy and Relative (TFR) approach. The study is based on the October Household Survey (OHS) conducted by Statistics South Africa in 1995.

Este artigo esboça um enfoque teórico relacional para o estudo da ação coletiva empresarial. Para tal, argumenta-se que tanto o individualismo metodológico de Mancur Olson como a análise sociológica das classes sociais de Claus Offe e Helmut Wiesenthal, enfoques amplamente difundidos nos estudos sobre o empresariado, apresentam uma forte tendência essencialista. Tal tendência tende a substituir o conflito social por determinismos de vários tipos - econômicos, culturais, psicológico etc. Em contraposição a estes enfoques, é esboçada uma abordagem relacional na qual a ação coletiva empresarial é o resultado das relações de forças existentes, destacando a dimensão conflitiva e histórica do processo de construção da ação e da organização coletiva. Para o estudo das associações empresariais, esta perspectiva permite pensá-las como resultado dos conflitos sociais e de lugar.

The objectives and strategies of the relational and network approaches are compared. The status of support for non-programming users is examined. General purpose support for such users entails provision of an augmented relationally complete retrieval capability without branching, explicit iteration, or cursors. It is clear how this capability can be realized with the relational approach—whether with a formal or informal language interface. It is not at all clear how the network approach can reach this goal, so long as the principal schema includes owner-coupled sets “bearing information essentially”. A relational discipline is suggested as a way out for DBTG users.